The Ties That Bind
by Aki-Chan04
Summary: Sequel to Too Strong a God and The Age of Heroes. The final battle for Olympus is here! But things aren't going according to plan. Chapter 16: Percy has lost to Kronos... but gained something important that he'll need to save the world
1. Author's Note

**Author's Notes: **

First off, this is a sequel, the third story in a trilogy. The first two are "Too Strong a God" and "The Age of Heroes"; if you haven't read those you might be slightly confused to being with.

Second, this is obviously a slash story involving a male/male relationship; if you are not okay with this, _don't read it_. Flames will be reported as abuse.

Third, spoilers for pretty much the whole Percy Jackson series, right up through the last book. You've been warned. This takes place after _The Battle of the Labyrinth_, but I've incorporated elements from _The Last Olympian_ since I am, in essence, rewriting it.

Okay, that should it be it! On to the story~


	2. Ch 1: Everything Can Change

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 1: Everything Can Change**

_Everything can change when you least expect it  
Can't change what you can't control  
Gotta learn how to just let go_

- Everything Can Change (Spectacular!)

I used to think that Camp Half-Blood was a busy place during the summer months when there were just the normal camp activities going on: archery and sword practice, campers taking turns on the climbing wall that tried to burn you to cinders if you couldn't scramble up it fast enough. Barbecues and bonfires and singalongs and camp-wide games of capture the flag.

Now I had to admit that I really missed those days. Sure, we still had a lot of those things – there was still archery, sword fighting, and races up the climbing wall. But now there were also field medicine classes taught by the older members of the Apollo cabin, and Pegasus combat flight training taught by yours truly. There were even crash courses in weapons repair taught by Charles Beckendorf, the head of the Hephaestus cabin, whenever he wasn't busy in the camp forges making as many shields, swords, knives, and spears as possible. _Capture the flag_ had been renamed _stop Kronos' advancing army_; it was a much more grim experience than it had used to be.

Silena Beauregard and a couple of kids from the Aphrodite cabin were even holding classes on "How To Look Your Best While Vanquishing Monsters" in the evenings, which I can't say I thought were overly helpful but maybe that wasn't the point. There were enough unpleasant, back-breaking things to do during the day; I couldn't begrudge anyone who wanted to sit down and listen to the most fashion-savvy kids in camp tell them how to beat up _dracaenae_ without breaking a single nail.

After all, we were preparing for a war.

Okay, I guess I'd probably better start at the beginning. Only it's not really the beginning, because that was a really long time ago now – four years, in fact, back during the summer when I was eleven and I met my first satyr and took my first field trip into the Underworld. Now I was fifteen, and I'd been to the Underworld more times than I cared to recount (at least three). I'd even died once. It hadn't been pleasant. I'd gotten off on a technicality in the end, but I wasn't really willing to push my luck a second time. Neither was Nico. And when one of the most important people in your life (read: serious boyfriend), who just so happens to also be the son of Hades, says he's worried about you dying, you tend to agree with him. It's just the best choice to make, really.

Of course, Nico was worried about a lot of things these days – not the least of which was the prophecy that a sixteen year-old child of either Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades, was supposed to make some kind of decision that would either preserve the world or end human existence as we knew it. Given that the only living daughter of Zeus (Thalia) had elected to never age past fifteen and the son of Poseidon (being me) wouldn't turn sixteen until a little less than a year from now, the fact that Nico had gone from being the twelve year-old son of Hades to the sixteen year-old one in a matter of minutes last month had catapulted him into a spotlight I knew for a fact he didn't want. And it had been wearing him down, little by little. Maybe no one else noticed, but I wasn't just anyone else.

I was the boy who shared my cabin – and my bed – with Nico di Angelo, and I'd seen enough sides of him in the past two years to notice the cracks in his façade. Nico had this funny way of showing absolutely everything on his face when he thought he was doing just the opposite – or, at least, when you knew what to look for. For example: right now, when he was sitting on the bed next to mine, which he'd appropriated for himself when we'd returned from Boston three weeks ago. It was more to have a space of his own than anything – after all, we slept in the same bed, whichever of ours it was, but Nico hadn't had a lot of things for himself since I'd met him so I had no problem letting him take up as much room as he liked. After all, there was no one else to claim it – I lived alone in the Poseidon cabin most of the time, except for when my half-brother Tyson, who's also a Cyclops, decided to stay at camp. But he was currently helping our father out in his forges beneath the sea, so it had been just me in cabin three until Nico moved in.

Now, let me point out that it's not exactly normal for a kid to stay in a cabin that doesn't belong to his, shall we say, _divine_ parent. In fact, there are rules pretty much against it and even if there weren't, it would probably have been a pretty glaring _faux pas_. The gods take their honor pretty seriously, and they tend to get pissed if you don't respect them. There were twelve cabins at Camp Half-Blood, one for each of the twelve major Olympian gods: Zeus, Hera (mostly for show, since she valued family and marriage and didn't go around having kids with mortals), Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Artemis (again for show; she doesn't have any children, being a maiden goddess), Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Dionysus. If you didn't know which branch of the tangled family tree your apple fell from, you stayed in cabin eleven with the Hermes kids, since their father was the patron god of travelers.

You might notice there was no cabin for – that's right: Hades. Nico had been sleeping on the floor of the Hermes cabin since he'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood two years ago, though admittedly he hadn't always spent a whole lot of his time at camp. But ever since we'd gotten back from the rather huge ordeal that had turned Nico into the sixteen year-old star of the prophecy, he'd announced that (contrary to the aforementioned camp rules, etc.) he would be staying in my cabin. Chiron, the camp activities director, hadn't really been in a position to argue with him about it at the time.

Naturally, I didn't really have a problem with this. In fact, it was a pretty sweet deal – I mean, why wouldn't I want to share a cabin with my boyfriend? It meant no sneaking around, which we probably would've tried to do anyway so at least this way it saved us the trouble. And the only other space I'd shared with Nico was my mom's apartment in Manhattan, which might be bigger than cabin three but it didn't always feel like it; my room there certainly wasn't as spacious as the cabin, and so there was plenty of room for two teenage boys to spread out without having to worry about anyone complaining about the mess (well, except for Annabeth when she came to do rounds. Then we got an earful). On top of it all, my dad had told us himself that he didn't mind us being together, and he hadn't tried to kill or even so much as trip Nico over the doorstep since he'd moved in. So we figured we were on pretty solid ground.

Anyway, back to the point I was trying to make – Nico was sitting on the bed, socked feet pulled up underneath him as he read a current issue of TIME Magazine. It was taking him forever, but that's not because he was only in the seventh grade. It was because he – like every other half-blood child of the greek gods – was dyslexic and had ADHD, things that were useful if you wanted to read ancient greek messages from the gods or stay alive during a battle for your life, but not so useful when you were trying to read a news article and the tiny-print letters kept dancing around the page like they'd had too much to drink.

Most people probably would've thought the frown on his face was due to his difficulty with the magazine article, but that wasn't it. Well, sure, it was a little bit of it – but most of it was the way he'd clashed with Clarisse LaRue today during sword and shield drills, like he did practically every day. I could see his argument with her in the hunch of his shoulders and the creases on his forehead and the way he was biting his lip, worrying the skin with his teeth and it was going to start bleeding if I didn't do something to interfere, and soon.

"Hey," I said, taking a break from trying to decide which of the clothes on the floor were dirty and which were clean to sit next to him on the bed and bump shoulders. "Don't let her get to you."

Nico glanced up at me, still frowning slightly. "Who?"

I rolled my eyes. "Clarisse. You're still thinking about that fight you had this afternoon. You do it practically every day," I said, reaching over to squeeze one of his arms, "and it's not like she doesn't deserve it, but _you_ don't deserve to let it bother you so much."

Nico looked at me for a minute, silently, before he finally said, "That's just _it_. I... don't really remember what we were arguing about."

I laughed a little at that. "The usual – why should you bother remembering every time you guys argue?" There were only so many insults they could throw back and forth, though the level of vehemence did seem to grow every time. After all, Clarisse didn't trust Nico and she wasn't okay with him suddenly being the kid the prophecy was supposedly about. And Nico didn't like Clarisse because she was a bully who rarely thought about anyone but herself, hot-tempered and easy to set off, just like her father – Ares. I couldn't really blame him – Clarisse was probably my least-favorite person in camp.

But Nico was shaking his head. "If it happened this afternoon, you'd think I'd still remember it. But I don't. I don't even remember half the stuff I did today."

"The days do all kind of blur, sometimes," I offered, but now I was starting to feel a little uneasy. If it was bothering Nico so much, then it might be more than just the tedium of repetition. "What exactly do you mean when you say you can't remember?"

He shrugged. "Just that. I don't really remember arguing at all. I know it happened… it's the same with a lot of stuff. I thought maybe I was just tuning things out, but…"

Now it was my turn to frown. "Wait, how long has this been going on?" Why hadn't he said anything? What if it was some horrible side effect of whatever Medea had given him that had aged him from twelve to sixteen in a matter of hours? Who knew what that stuff had been, or what else it might have done to him?

Okay, I know I was just jumping to conclusions. But the truth was, we _didn't_ know how Medea had aged Nico, just that she _had_ – and that everything had changed when she'd done it. Honestly, I'll tell you that I wasn't all that disappointed about not being the "chosen one" or whatever – prophecies kind of creeped me out and I didn't like the way they made your life sound pre-ordained, especially when they came true (and they always seemed to, one way or another). And making a decision that would save or destroy Olympus was kind of a big deal – who wanted that sort of responsibility? To tell you the truth, not me.

But not Nico, either. I knew he didn't put much stock in the gods, and who could blame him? Just like almost every other half-blood I knew, he'd been abandoned by his godly parent and left to fend for himself in the mortal world. But it wasn't just Hades that had abandoned Nico. When he was so young that he couldn't even really remember her, his mother had died, which left him and his older sister Bianca doubly alone. They'd been passed from lawyer to lawyer, and somehow they'd spent _decades_ inside a magical hotel (I've been there, it's real), where to them it had seemed only like days – weeks – until they'd finally emerged into a world that had pretty much left them behind half a century ago. Shortly after Grover had located the two of them at a military school and we'd helped them escape certain death (nothing new to a half-blood), Bianca had been swayed by the immortal lifestyle of Artemis' huntresses and pretty much left Nico behind to start a totally new life of her own. I knew she hadn't really meant it that way, but that's what pretty much happened.

And then she'd died on a quest to save Artemis not more than a few days later. Nico had felt completely alone, and I knew he'd blamed me for a long time. He'd even tried to bring his sister back from the dead (obviously it hadn't worked). He didn't really feel like he fit in at Camp Half-Blood, and the lack of a cabin dedicated to his father only seemed to underscore that. Being the son of Hades, no one seemed to like or support him much – I guess the rift between his father and the rest of the gods kept most half-bloods from seeing what kind of a person Nico really was: kind, thoughtful, and really damned cute if you managed to catch him at it. (Recently, my brain supplied oh-so-helpfully, he'd also gotten pretty freaking sexy.)

Oh, sure, he could be sullen and bratty and selfish just like anyone else – moreso, probably, because everyone expected him to be that way. He tended to wear all black (and hey, it looked good on him) and his hair was always mussed and he was really good at frowning pretty much all the time. But it was all just an act, and anyone who got close enough to him (like me) knew it. He'd been left behind his whole life, whether it was by his parents or his sister or the half-bloods at camp, and he'd learned not to get too close to people. He'd stopped caring what they'd thought of him – or, at least, he'd tried.

But he'd let me get close to him, and he'd let himself get close to me. And that meant a whole lot. I tried to let him know it as often as possible. I couldn't name the one reason I fell for Nico; I just liked _him_ and that was good enough for me.

But here I was, thinking long and hard about stupid stuff like that while Nico was sitting next to me and shaking his head again in answer to my question. "I don't know… a while. A couple of weeks, I guess."

I stared at him, totally forgetting my reverie. "_Weeks_? And you didn't think it might be important to mention it?"

"It wasn't really obvious!" he pointed out, putting the magazine down, now that he'd obviously given up trying to read the article. "I mean, when you forget things, it's not like you _remember_ that you forgot them! I just started realizing it a couple days ago, but I think it's been going on a lot longer that that."

I sighed, wanting to let him know that I wasn't really mad at him. But I _was_ worried. "Do you think it's maybe due to the concussion?" He'd gotten a pretty bad concussion fighting single-handedly against Kronos, and it had taken almost a week of bedrest before Michael Yew (the head of the Apollo Cabin and pretty handy when you need a medic) would let him go through an entire day's regimen of drills.

"I dunno. Maybe. I guess maybe it started after then. But I feel fine otherwise," he said. He sounded like he was starting to regret telling me, but I didn't want him to do that at all because this really was important. Nico didn't like it when I worried about him, but that didn't mean he didn't need me to do it. Someone had to worry about him, after all.

"We should tell Chiron – or at least Michael," I amended, when Nico started shaking his head after the first four words were out of my mouth. I know he didn't have a lot of faith in Chiron or Mr. D – after all, they were adults just like all the ones that had left him – but _I_ did. Well, I had faith in Chiron, at least. Mr. D was another story. He wasn't around much, anyway. The gods were all arguing up a storm (sometimes literally) on Olympus these days. I guessed the news that the prophecy was going to be fulfilled earlier than they'd thought had upset the gods just as much as it had us. I hadn't heard much other than what Chiron said in offhand comments, but I knew it was getting bad. The late summer thunderstorms that rolled in from the west were more tense and more charged, somehow, than storms usually were. Zeus was not happy.

Well, why should he be? After all, he and Hades had pretty much the biggest grudge between them that two brothers could have. He'd banished his brother to rule the Underworld forever – how did you just _get along_ after that, when one of you was stuck with the dead while your other two brothers ruled the sky and the sea? I didn't like Hades at all, but sometimes I wondered how much of the way he was, he'd become because of what his brothers had done – even if one of those brothers was my dad.

Sometimes I wondered how much of what Nico had used to be had been because of what his own father and mother and sister had done to him. I mean, he was different now. Something had changed in him, ever since he'd shown up on the fire escape and Mom had given him blue cake on my birthday. And it had kept changing ever since that night, when he'd said he'd liked me and I said I'd liked him and we'd given the whole boyfriends thing a try – and then discovered that we couldn't imagine living apart ever again. Nico was such a big part of my life now that it was hard to imagine things without him here. Sometimes I wondered if he felt the same way about me. But then all he had to do was push me over onto my back on the bed and kiss me senseless and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he did.

Sometimes I wondered how much of what Nico was now, was because of me. I wasn't sure whether that made me feel selfish or stupid, so I tried not to think about it, but sometimes I just couldn't help it. I'd never asked him, but then I wasn't sure if he'd even have an answer for me if he'd wanted to give me one. But whatever the reason, I was glad of who he was now. And I wasn't going to let anything happen to him if it was in my power to stop it. And possibly beyond.

"I don't need a doctor," Nico was saying now, scowling softly and I could tell he definitely regretted telling me. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not," I said calmly. "And I really think you should just talk to Michael about it. It can be in private, okay? You don't have to advertise it to the entire camp."

He was still looking at me sideways, lips turned down almost in a frown. "What about Chiron?"

I sighed. "I won't tell him if you don't want me to," I said. "Not," I added, "unless it really is life-threatening. Then you know I'd have to tell." I leaned in, suddenly wanting to kiss the frown off his lips. I wanted to make the problem just go away, just like I wanted to make all those other things go away – all the fights with Clarisse, all the drills and the weight of the world and the big decision it was now up to Nico to make. I didn't want Nico to have to face any of it, but at least if he did, he wouldn't be doing it alone. He had to know that by now.

His lips yielded to mine, and he hummed a little as his fingers fisted in my shirt and he pulled me closer so I had to lean kind of awkwardly across him to keep kissing. But I didn't really mind the position at all. A couple of minutes later, he kicked the TIME Magazine off the bed and slid down onto his back and pulled me down on top of him; he whispered something against my mouth that sounded an awful lot like, "I know."

I didn't know quite which part of what I was trying to do he knew about, but I was starting to suspect it might have been all of it.


	3. Ch 2: The Prophecy

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 2: The Prophecy**

_Now that I know that the right time has come  
My prediction will surely be true  
The impending disaster, it looms_

- The Prophecy (Iron Maiden)

"He's fine," Michael Yew said, shaking his head slightly. "At least, as far as I can tell. The concussion is completely healed. I mean, I guess it's possible there could still be some side effects, but…" He frowned, glancing up from Nico, who was sitting on the bed and looking pretty uncomfortable. "Why are you guys asking?"

Nico shot me a look that told me I'd better not tell, but it was one thing to promise that I wouldn't tell Chiron about what was going on. I'd never promised not to tell Michael. "He's been forgetting stuff," I said; Nico kicked me in the shin with one foot, but he was only wearing socks and it didn't really hurt. Besides, he hadn't meant it to, much. I shot him a look of my own that reminded him plainly that he'd agreed to talk to Michael about this. And that meant actually _telling_ the head of the Apollo cabin what was wrong.

After all, Michael Yew might not be even five feet tall, but he knew more about healing than either of us did – or pretty much anyone else in camp, for that matter. Since Apollo was the god of healing, his children took care of any minor (or major) injuries that we sustained. And that included, I thought at Nico (even if he couldn't hear me), memory loss. Possibly due to concussions caused by angry Titan lords.

"Forgetting stuff?" Michael echoed, his eyes going a bit out of focus, obviously thinking hard. He turned back to Nico. "What kind of stuff? Names and places?"

Nico shook his head, still looking uncomfortable. "No. It's not really that bad." He fell silent, but I glared at him until he sighed and started talking again. "Just… everyday stuff. Like what I had for lunch and what I talked to people about. Stuff like that. I've had a lot on my mind. I've probably just been tuning it out," he finished sullenly.

"Hm." The cabin fell silent as Michael considered what Nico had just told him. Nico swung his legs a bit (not something he could do much anymore, though it was funny when he tried) and kicked me in the shin a couple more times, but now it was just a playful distraction and, I thought wryly, an excuse to touch me. I'd noticed that about Nico lately – he'd do anything for an excuse to touch.

Maybe it was the spike of hormones he'd suddenly gotten after Medea had decided to speed up his biological clock, but whatever it was, I didn't mind at all. It wasn't like I didn't feel the same way a lot of the time – so sue me, but I was just as much a teenage guy as he was. That whole argument aside, we could die tomorrow – sure, people said that a whole lot, but it just didn't _mean_ the same thing for most regular mortals that it did for half-bloods – and why should we waste the time we had? Not that either of us were planning on dying at all for a really long time, but what we planned and what actually happened had never quite seemed to coincide.

And honestly, this whole thing with _us_ was still really new. It totally boggled my mind to think about it, but Nico and I had only been dating (or whatever you wanted to call it – we hadn't actually been out on anything resembling an actual "date") since my birthday. That had only been two months ago.

Maybe it just felt like forever because we'd been through so much in those two months. I mean, a month after the night he'd told me he liked me Nico had died and I'd tried to trade my life to Hades for his. A week after that, Nico had turned sixteen thanks to Medea's special "treatment" and two days later we'd made a stand against Kronos on Bunker Hill. And now only two weeks after that we were waist-deep in drills and war preparations. Everything seemed to be happening on fast-forward – so why shouldn't how we felt for each other do the same thing?

"Well, I'm not sure if it's related, but I guess we shouldn't rule it out," Michael finally said, breaking me out of my thoughts and I realized that Nico's foot was now resting comfortably against my calf. "Head injuries can be tricky. But I think unless it doesn't go away or it gets any worse, it's probably nothing to worry about."

I couldn't help but notice that Nico was now looking pretty smug. Yeah, okay – so I'd gotten all worried over nothing. Could you really blame me? Being a half-blood was a dangerous occupation (and one that none of us had signed up for), and you could never be too careful. Dreams were never just dreams – trees weren't even just trees, half the time. So of course I'd assumed that Nico's forgetfulness could have been something more. Anyone probably would've done the same thing.

Nico was nodding now. "Cool. Thanks," he said, and Michael returned the nod.

"Just try to get some extra sleep," he suggested. "If it's stress-related, then relieving some of the stress should help." He looked kind of sympathetic – I guessed he knew that there was only so much stress that Nico could relieve. After all, being the subject of a big important world-ending prophecy couldn't exactly be put on hold so you could take a vacation.

With that, Michael turned and slipped out of the cabin. Nico turned back to me, still looking smug until I rolled my eyes and threw up my hands. "Okay!" I said, sitting down next to him on the bed. "So I overreacted. Kill me."

But Nico only chuckled and leaned in close. "Nah, but I can think of a bunch of other things I'd rather do…"

---

Two days later as we were leaving archery practice, Chiron cantered up to the two of us as we were putting our bows and arrows away with the rest of the campers in our session. Since there was only me and Nico from our respective cabins – not that Nico had a cabin in the first place – we'd gotten tacked onto the Hermes cabin practices, which was fine with me. They were a pretty rowdy bunch (well, usually; recently everyone had been understandably somewhat subdued) but it was better than being with the Apollo or Athena cabins, because all of them were pretty kickass archers and I was usually lucky to not hit any innocent bystanders with stray arrows. Archery was not exactly my strong point, and Annabeth never seemed to let me forget it.

"Nico, Percy..." Chiron looked between the two of us hesitantly, which of course made my stomach drop somewhere into the vicinity of my feet. When Chiron looked worried, it usually meant something pretty serious was going down. "I would like to speak with you a moment, if it's not too much trouble?"

Well, it sure sounded like trouble – but what choice did we have? It wasn't like we could say no, so Nico and I just nodded and the three of us stood there awkwardly while the rest of the campers filed away from the practice arena, some of them giving us curious looks as they passed. Well, I guessed that was to be expected – it wasn't like there was anyone left in camp who didn't know about us dating, and everyone also knew by now that the sixteen year-old guy in black was Nico and that he was the reason the war was going to happen sooner rather than later. Talk about extra exposure that neither of us wanted (or needed).

Normally I didn't feel uncomfortable around Chiron at all – he was a good mentor, and I'd actually known him longer than anyone else here except for my best friend Grover. Chiron had been masquerading as a teacher at my school since shortly after Grover had been sent to keep an eye on me, since half-bloods have this really uncool tendency to get killed by monsters as little kids (or, I mused, as older ones). I'd had no idea that my best friend and my teacher were going to turn my life upside-down, but that had been before they'd shown me that neither of them was exactly... _human_. Then they'd told me that I wasn't, either. I guess that's just how things work sometimes.

The way Chiron was looking at us now reminded me a little of that fateful – and awkward – day, and I wasn't really sure I wanted to hear what he had to say. He didn't give me the chance to do anything about it though, because as soon as the last orange shirt had disappeared down the path he stamped one hoof nervously and said, "I think it's time you learned the prophecy – all of it."

There was no question as to which prophecy he meant. He meant _The Prophecy_ with a capital 'P' – the one that said Nico was going to save the world or destroy it. I'd known about the prophecy for years, but I also knew that I'd never been told the whole of it. And neither had Nico. But I guess I'd kind of forgotten about that detail in lieu of preparing for the oncoming war. After all, before a couple weeks ago I'd assumed I had another year to hear the rest of it. And recently I'd really never thought about the fact that now it was Nico who needed to hear it.

"Normally I would insist that only the person for whom it was meant should hear it," Chiron went on, looking between us, "But in this case I feel an exception should be made. Percy, Nico... I think you should both hear the prophecy."

There was a moment of silence during which I swear I could hear my heart pounding in my ears so loudly that Nico and Chiron must have heard it too. I wasn't exactly comfortable around the Oracle, and not only because you (usually) had to climb up into the dusty, deserted attic of the Big House alone (or not, in this case) to hear what she had to say. She was creepy, not in the least because she was actually a shriveled-up corpse of what had probably once been a pretty nice-looking woman. But she certainly wasn't now, mummified and dusty and wearing faded tie-dyed clothes from the 60s.

There was also the way that her mouth spilled out green smoke that seemed to chill you to the bone when she gave her prophecies in a horrible, otherworldly voice.

"Right," Nico said finally, and I felt his cool fingers slip into my own. I grasped them right back. "Okay."

I nodded. There was no way around this, even if I wasn't sure which I was more scared of: the Oracle, or what she had to say. "Well, let's get to the attic," I agreed, turning toward the Big House that loomed in the distance over the strawberry fields. It was best to just get this overwith, right?

But even though Chiron started heading down the path with us in the same direction, he shook his head at me. "You won't be going to the attic, Percy," he said, trotting alongside us as we walked. "The Oracle gave the prophecy decades ago. It's been written down and kept until it was needed."

"Oh," I said, not sure if that made me feel better or not. I mean, at least I didn't have to face the mummy, now. That was good, right? It didn't help to calm my nerves a whole lot, though; and by the way Nico's hand was squeezing mine, I was sure it hadn't helped calm him down much, either.

We walked the rest of the way to the Big House in uncomfortable silence, ignoring the sounds of distant clanging coming from the practice arena where the Ares cabin was holding sword and shield practice. As we came within view of the porch I saw a familiar figure standing there leaning on the railing, her blonde ponytail falling over one shoulder as she waited for us to approach.

"Annabeth?" I asked, as we came to a stop at the bottom of the steps. "What are you doing here?"

She held up one hand, and I could see that clutched between her fingers was a tiny roll of parchment paper no bigger than her pinky. I frowned, wondering what it could be, but she answered the question before I could even ask it. "The prophecy," she said quietly.

"Wait, how come you have it?" I found myself asking. Chiron hadn't said anything about Annabeth holding onto it...

Annabeth gave me a look that was halfway between exasperation and pity. "I just did you the favor of getting it out of storage, Seaweed Brain." She didn't say what exactly that meant, but she cast a glance over my shoulder at Chiron before adding, "Besides, I read it when I was ten. It's not like I don't know what it says."

I heard Chiron shuffle a little in the dust behind us. "True, but Annabeth is one of the few people who _do_ know the exact wording." He came around to look down at Nico and me, blocking out the slanting rays of the afternoon sun. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but it would be... best if you don't reveal the wording to anyone else. The fewer people who know exactly what the prophecy says, the better."

"Does Luke know?" I blurted, knowing it probably wasn't the best thing to ask in front of Annabeth but really, it was more important than her feelings right now. It had to be.

Chiron's face darkened even as Annabeth's paled. "Yes," he said quietly, his eyes flicking to Annabeth for a split second. I realized that I didn't know if it was because he was worried about how she felt about the question, or if it was something else entirely. (Because she'd told him the words? I really hoped not, even if she might not have known better when she was ten. But Annabeth must have been pretty sharp even as a ten year-old... right?)

Annabeth cleared her throat, breaking the momentary silence. "Anyway, come on." She turned and disappeared through the front door. Nico and I had no choice but to climb the aging porch steps and follow her, with Chiron bringing up the rear. We followed Annabeth through the empty house into the rec room (which was now where the head counselors met on a semi-regular basis to hold war councils instead of table tennis tournaments). Chiron closed the door behind us and Annabeth stepped forward, her face still pale even though I could tell that she was trying to act like everything was perfectly normal.

Except it wasn't – we shouldn't have even been thinking about looking at the parchment she held in her hands for another year yet. Everything had been turned upside-down when Nico had turned sixteen way ahead of schedule, and even though there was nothing any of us could do about it, that didn't mean no one ever thought about how things could have gone, if only they'd turned out more like we expected.

Annabeth spread the crumbling, yellowed paper out on the ping pong table and together Nico and I leaned over it, squinting at the letters written in curling black script that for a minute looked more like snakes than words.

But finally the swirls began to resolve themselves into letters, which came together to form words that read:

_A half-blood of the eldest gods  
Shall reach sixteen against all odds.  
And see the world in endless sleep,  
The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap.  
A single choice shall end his days,  
Olympus to preserve or raze._

"... Oh," I heard myself breathe, as I finished reading it. I felt like my stomach had dropped even lower than my shoes – like it was somewhere in the Underworld by now, which was really the last place I wanted to think of at this exact moment in time. Except, of course, it was suddenly the only thing filling my thoughts, because...

_A single choice shall end his days._ Well. There really wasn't more than one interpretation of that line, as far as I was concerned. And I was pretty sure everyone in the room agreed with me, given the horrible, icy silence that had filled the air even during the dog days of summer with no A/C and the windows shut tight.

Next to me, Nico still stood staring at the parchment spread on the fluorescent green of the table. I could hear the flicking of Chiron's tail as he stood behind us. Annabeth hadn't made a sound. It was like no one dared to speak because that would somehow make it real.

But the silence – the fantasy – couldn't last forever. "So that's it, then," Nico finally said. It wasn't a question. His voice sounded even, but it was almost _too_ even. He sounded way too calm, given the roiling hurricane that had taken up residence in the pit formerly occupied by my stomach.

"Yes," Chiron said, just as (too) calmly, after a minute. "That's it."

I swallowed. It felt like I was in some kind of alternate dimension. What did they mean, _That's it_? How could they talk so calmly about a prophecy that, in so few words, had just spelled out certain death for the boy standing next to me? How could no one _do anything_ in the face of the loss that I'd already refused to accept once, not even one month ago? Didn't anybody _understand_?

Except, I thought as I turned around to face Chiron and Annabeth, my shoulder brushing against Nico's, maybe they understood too well. Chiron and Annabeth had known about this for years. They'd had time to come to terms with it – though suddenly I wondered... how long had Annabeth been looking at me, thinking that _I_ was going to be the one to...

Chiron spoke again, breaking into my thoughts as I had to pull myself together enough for my brain to process to what he was saying. "I've decided to show this to you now because there are still parts of it that we don't understand." _Of course_, I thought numbly, _there were also parts of it that were impossible_ not _to understand_.

"The – the part about 'the world in endless sleep'," Annabeth said, her voice breaking only once before regaining its steadiness. "No one's been able to figure out what that means. But we figure it's going to happen soon."

"Because of the whole me being sixteen thing," Nico said. "The first part's come true, so the second part can't be far behind." There were nods all around. He looked up, his eyes dark and for once his mask was foolproof enough that even _I_ couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking. But I could guess. "Well," he said quickly, "thanks for the warning. If I figure it out, I'll be sure to let you know."

And with that, he brushed past me and strode from the room.

I cast a quick glance at Chiron and Annabeth, but neither of them tried to stop me as I took off after him. Even though he wasn't running, Nico was striding so fast that he could outstrip a power-walker and with the couple-second head start (and legs that were fractionally longer than mine) I didn't catch up with him until I'd burst out the screen door and stumbled down the porch steps onto the grass. I reached out and grabbed the crook of his elbow and he came to a halt so abruptly that I almost smashed my nose into the back of his head.

"… Nico," I said quickly, before he could try to break free. "Nico, talk to me."

"I don't really want to talk," he said hollowly, not turning around. His voice sounded hoarse, like he had a sore throat – or like he was trying really hard not to cry.

_Fuck_, I swore silently, and suddenly I didn't care if he didn't want to talk, because I knew he needed to _touch_. It had been so easy, over the past few weeks, to just forget that Nico wasn't sixteen – he was twelve, and no matter what he looked like on the outside or even how mature and put-together he acted, there was a scared little kid underneath that teenage exterior and suddenly all I wanted to do was make him feel better.

I stepped closer and slid my arms around him, holding him against my chest. His whole body tensed at first, but when he didn't try to get away I just pulled him closer and after a long minute I could feel him starting to lean back into me just a little. I could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage through his t-shirt, and it made my own heart hurt just to feel it.

"Look, Nico," I said quietly into his ear, "these things barely ever make sense." But I knew what those last two lines had meant and there was no getting around it. There was nothing else they could mean, and he knew it as well as Chiron and Annabeth – and Luke.

He laughed, but it definitely wasn't because he thought anything was funny and we both knew it; the sound just rattled around hollowly in his chest. "I dunno," he said dryly, "I think it was pretty obvious what it means."

Still holding him, I shrugged. Right then I didn't really care that we were standing out in the middle of the yard in front of the Big House in plain sight. There was no one around to see us and even if there had been, I would have ignored them anyway. "Maybe," I said, and left it at that because I didn't want to think about the fact that he was right. He didn't say anything, and I didn't really have anything I could say to make it better so I just kept standing there, kept holding him, until the cold skin of his neck and arms had started to warm against me and I could hear his breathing start to even out, feeling the frantic beating of his heart under my forearm start to slow.

Maybe I couldn't make it better, but I could sure as hell try. "Come on," I said finally, slipping away from his side and tugging at his hand a bit.

Nico's eyes were still impossible to read as he looked up at me blankly. "Where are we going?"

"The beach," I said, as cheerfully as I can manage. "No one'll be there in the middle of the afternoon and it always makes me feel better."

He snorted, but this time there was actual humor in the sound. "That's because Annabeth's right – you _do_ have seaweed for brains." All the same, he let me start to lead him in the general direction of the Sound.

"Hey!" I protested, but at least the moment had broken. At least I could start to think clearly again, and maybe so could he. There would be plenty of time to think about the prophecy later. Right now it could go to Tartarus and rot there, for all I cared. "I'm just trying to help here," I said. "Come on, it'll help clear your head."

"I can think of other things that'd help clear it better," Nico purred, his fingers twisting a little in mine.

I blinked and came up short, then choked out a laugh of my own. "Nico, it's the middle of the afternoon. I'm not sure but I think Chiron still expects us to be at javelin practice in an hour."

"So?" He stepped closer, pressing his lips to the curve where my neck met my chin and I couldn't help it – I shivered.

"So… uh," I said, oh-so-intelligently, and Nico's mouth curved into a smile that I could feel even if I couldn't see it.

"We are so lucky my dad likes you," I told him, right before I turned around and ducked my head so that his lips could touch mine instead. After all, we were about to use my cabin for something that I was pretty sure no other sons of Poseidon had used it for, before Nico had come into my life.


	4. Ch 3: Calling You

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 3: Calling You**

_I will keep calling you to see  
__If you're sleeping are you dreaming and  
If you're dreaming are you dreaming of me_

- Calling You (Blue October)

Someone was banging on my cabin door. Nico and I groaned almost in unison. It was dark outside when I blinked my eyes open – it was still the middle of the night. So whatever or whoever it was, it had to be important. Either that, or it was something very hungry. But somehow I didn't think a monster would knock, given that it had even managed to get past Camp Half-Blood's magically-protected borders. So more likely it was just someone who really, really wanted to talk to us.

I pushed myself up, sliding slowly off the bed as I realized we'd been so tired that we'd fallen asleep in our clothes. My t-shirt was wrinkled and creased, but I guessed that was better than having to search for a clean one on the floor.

The banging continued. "Open up, Seaweed Brain!" came the call as I was halfway to the door, and I hurried the last few steps of the way to pull it open. Annabeth was standing on the other side, her fist still raised in mid-bang. I imagined she didn't want to be caught out of bed after curfew, so this must be important, whatever it was. There was something small and glowing clutched in her other hand, and she looked pretty disgruntled.

"What is it?" I asked, as the thing in her hand was suddenly shoved into my face. I went almost cross-eyed trying to focus on it before I realized it was her cell phone.

"It's for _you_," she said shortly, striding past me into the cabin before turning to stare at the wall. "And Nico, you'd better be dressed too."

"I am," came the muffled reply from the bed; Nico had pulled the covers back over his head, apparently in an attempt to go back to sleep. "Nice of you to stop by."

"Hmph," Annabeth huffed, but she turned back to me. I was still standing there dumbly, holding her phone. She sighed and reached up, pulling my hand toward my ear to press the phone to it. "Well, _talk already_. You're using up my minutes and I'm not supposed to have this thing on, anyway. I have no idea how she got my number and you'd better make it quick."

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I figured I'd better do what she said before she _really_ got angry. I adjusted the phone against my ear and said, "Uh… hello?"

"Percy! Thank God – or, well, the gods, whatever… You have to listen to me. It's really important."

"Rachel?" I asked. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," she said. "Look, I know I'm not supposed to have this number and I know you told me how dangerous it is for you to use cell phones and all that, but this is really important. I swear," she insisted, even as I was still trying to process that it was her. I mean, why would Rachel be calling me? And on Annabeth's cell phone? I guessed it was probably the only way she really had to contact me, and she said it was important… I felt my stomach drop somewhere into the vicinity of my feet (it seemed to be spending a lot of time there, these days) as Annabeth stood there in front of me, her arms crossed and one foot tapping impatiently.

I'd better get on with it, then. "What is it?" I asked.

"It's about Nico – Nico di Angelo," Rachel said quickly, speaking all in a rush. "I don't know why – I mean, I don't even know him that well, but I just had this dream... It was so vivid – so _real_. Percy, something terrible is going to happen, and he's the one who's going to cause it."

"Whoa," I said, trying to make out all her words at once. "Slow down – you had a dream about Nico?" Sure, Rachel had met Nico before – not exactly under the best circumstances, of course. We'd been running for our lives through Daedelus' Labyrinth at the time. I didn't think she knew much more about him than his name, and vice versa. So even if he was suddenly at the center of the prophecy, why was she dreaming about it?

I mean, when a half-blood has a dream like that, you pay attention to it. But Rachel wasn't a half-blood – she was a regular human. Well, okay, maybe not _regular_ human – she could see through the Mist like it wasn't even there. In fact, she could see through it better than _I_ could, as a rather embarrassing incident at Goode High School at the beginning of the summer had proven. I guessed that I did know her well enough to realize that if she was having dreams like this, they might be worth paying attention to regardless of why she was having them.

Across the cabin, the bedsheets rustled and Nico stuck his head out, looking at me. "Who's having dreams about me? What?"

I held up one finger as Rachel kept talking into my ear. "Yes," she said. "I know it sounds crazy, but it was definitely Nico. I mean, he looked older somehow, but I knew it was still him. And somehow it was happening right now, even though I know he's still a kid. I don't know how, but – "

"Actually… that would be about right," I murmured. Of course, the fact that she had dreamed him older was less than reassuring, since it meant that maybe…

"Huh?"

I shook my head, even though she couldn't see it. Now really wasn't the time to explain. "Long story. Sorry. Go on."

"Right. Well, I don't remember a lot. But it just seemed really urgent. He was in the woods somewhere, and there was all this screaming. It sounded like a girl. It was hard to see what was going on, but I think she died. I think he killed her. I don't know," Rachel said again, sounding exhausted and wound up all at the same time. "I just know it's important."

_Whoa, wait a second_, my mind was saying. _Rachel had had a dream about Nico _killing _someone_? That was _not_ what I'd been expecting to hear.

Okay. So Rachel had a dream about Nico killing a girl that she didn't know, and had felt the need to call me about it in the middle of the night. What did that even mean? "Was she… human?" I asked, wondering if maybe it had been some kind of female monster, if maybe –

"Yeah," Rachel said grimly. "I don't know who it was. I just… I just know she was dead."

"And he killed her." My mouth felt dry – was this really something I should be worrying about? It didn't make any sense. Maybe it was just a dream. And even assuming this dream could come true, I couldn't imagine why Nico would kill someone unless he had a really good reason. But even then…

Rachel just sounded so urgent. I mean, she was calling in the middle of the night. But how could it be so important? Nico was right here…

"Yeah," Rachel said again. "Look… I'm really sorry to bother you with this. Especially in the middle of the night and all. But it just seemed so important. I woke up and all I could think about was calling you…" She trailed off, and I suddenly realized that I'd pretty much left New York City without telling Rachel about it. She didn't even know about me and Nico. I hadn't really had time to hang out with Rachel since Nico had showed up on my fire escape.

"Wait – how did you know I was at camp?" I asked suddenly. "I mean… you didn't call…"

"I did," Rachel said, sounding chagrined. "Your mom told me."

I grimaced, thinking about Rachel calling my mom's apartment in the middle of the night. But that only underscored how important this must be to her – which only confused me more, in turn. It was almost too much to think about right now. My head felt fuzzy from having been woken up only a couple hours after I fell asleep.

"Right. Okay, uh, well… thanks, Rachel," I said. Annabeth was starting to look even more impatient, and I had to admit I wasn't sure I wanted to really think any more about what Rachel had said. If Nico really was going to kill someone in cold blood…

But how could he? Nico was still in his bed. His hair was all mussed from sleeping and he was watching me with a curious expression as Rachel said, "Yeah. Look, I'm really sorry to bother you with this. It just seemed so important, you know?" She paused. "Be careful."

"Thanks. I will," I promised, and hit END. I handed the phone back to Annabeth, who immediately shut it off and shoved it into her pocket.

"Well?" she asked – almost in perfect unison with Nico. They glanced at each other for a second before looking back at me.

"Well, what?" I asked – okay, so it was kind of low to play dumb, but it probably had something to do with the way my stomach was churning as I tried to imagine how the dream Rachel had described to me could possibly come to pass.

If Annabeth could have shot laser beams out of her eyes, I was pretty sure I would've been Roast Percy right about then. She just stood there glaring at me for a minute before she said, matter-of-factly, "My phone. So tell me."

"About me," Nico called from across the cabin. He sat up in bed, the blankets pooling around him. "I heard my name. So tell _me_."

I sighed. "Rachel just had a weird dream and it freaked her out, is all."

Annabeth raised one eyebrow. "A weird dream about me," Nico supplied.

I don't know why, but for some reason I really didn't want to tell Nico about this with Annabeth standing right there. Maybe I though she'd jump to conclusions – that she'd go right to Chiron and they'd lock Nico up or something until we could figure this out. Maybe I was worried that might be the right thing to do.

But Nico didn't deserve that – he hadn't done anything wrong (yet?), and no one trusted him in the first place just because Hades was his father. Becoming the child of the prophecy had only made him spectacularly less popular than he already had been – and trust me, he hadn't really been all that popular in the first place.

There was also a part of me that believed that I could stop him from doing anything like what Rachel had said he'd do. Part of me believed that he would listen to me – that I could keep whatever this was from happening. And so I said, "It was nothing important, really. Just a dream. A regular dream."

"That she had to call you about at three in the morning," Annabeth said flatly.

I shrugged. "I guess she was worried, since I told her my dreams are usually bad news. But she's not me," I said firmly. "She's not a half-blood like us. She's just a regular mortal."

"Who can see through the Mist," Annabeth pointed out.

"Well, so can my mom, but she doesn't have prophetic dreams, does she?" I knew it was pretty cold to say that, but it was the truth. Just because a mortal could see through the Mist didn't make them special in any other way. Maybe I was trying to convince myself of that as much as I was trying to convince Annabeth.

She didn't look very convinced, though. She mostly looked annoyed. And Nico was being strangely quiet.

"You know, if you really just don't want to tell me, all you had to do was say so," Annabeth huffed. And then she turned on her heel and stormed out of the cabin, slamming the door shut so hard behind her that I was sure the harpies that prowled camp after lights-out must have heard it.

I almost wanted to run after her – sure, she could keep herself from becoming harpy bait just fine, but now I just felt awful. The only other time I'd heard Annabeth's voice sound like that had been on our way back from Rising Star, Texas, when I'd been scared to tell her about how I was dating Nico and as a result of course she'd figured it out before I'd ever worked up the nerve to tell her. She'd been pretty pissed because of that. She'd said she could have handled it – that I should have had the respect to just tell my friends instead of keeping it a secret.

And she'd been right. My friends had deserved to know, and I hadn't told them. Annabeth and Grover were the two most important people to me, besides Nico and my mom, and I'd kept them out of the loop just because I'd been afraid of what they would think of me. This whole thing with Nico… well, I knew I'd kind of messed up with Annabeth. She was one of my best friends.

She'd even admitted to how much she'd liked me, and how jealous she had been when she'd figured the whole me-and-Nico thing out. It had kind of thrown me for a loop, but I'd had to admit that I always thought she was cute – way too much trouble, but cute. In the end it had only made me appreciate what I had with her – and with Nico – that much more. And now the fact that I'd pretty much just left her out of another me-and-Nico thing (well, sort of; I supposed Rachel being the bearer of bad news hadn't helped any, either) made the pit of my stomach turn to ice. But it was too late to go after her – she'd already be back at her cabin by now, and she didn't have the place all to herself. If I chased after Annabeth, I'd have to deal with the whole of the Athena cabin too and believe me, none of them would've been on my side.

And besides, there was the whole _reason_ I'd kind of inadvertently kicked her out, still watching me from his place on the bed with his hair mussed and the blankets piled around him. Nico didn't say anything; he just watched me with dark eyes that asked the question for him: _Are you going to tell me what this is all about?_

I sighed, feeling frustrated and worried. I'd just kicked Annabeth out over this (well, she'd kicked herself out, but it had been pretty much my fault) and now I had to tell Nico what Rachel had told me. Somehow that wasn't something I was exactly looking forward to doing.

I padded back across the cabin, coming to a stop in front of Nico's bed. I wasn't sure if I should sit down, but he answered that question for me by reaching out and grasping my wrist to pull me down beside him. His face was oddly serious – not that Nico wasn't usually serious, because he was actually one of the most serious people I knew. But the look on his face was just… _different_, somehow. Intent. When I was seated on the bed next to him, all he said was, "Tell me," quietly.

"Rachel had a dream," I began slowly. "About you."

"You already said that much," Nico put in, just enough amusement in his voice that I actually started to relax, even if it was just a little. This wasn't just about Nico, after all – because anything about him was automatically about me, too, and maybe an ounce of prevention really was worth a pound of cure, or however that saying goes. Now that I knew, maybe that would be enough to change any possible future Rachel's dreams might have shown her, assuming they could even come true in the first place.

"She's the redhead, right?" Nico asked. "The one who threw her hairbrush at Kronos."

I felt myself smile at that – because, "Yeah, she did," I said. Nico nodded, and I guessed there was no more delaying it. So I went on. "She had a dream that you killed someone – a girl," I elaborated. "Not a monster."

I watched Nico's face as the words sank in. First there was confusion, then worry – but that was followed closely be skepticism, which wasn't odd at all coming from Nico. "And what makes you think her weird-ass dreams about me are exactly important?" he finally asked; I wasn't sure if that was anger I heard in his voice, but I kind of hoped not.

Honestly, I didn't know if I could really explain it to him. I shrugged. "I dunno," I admitted. "They're probably not. But Rachel's pretty… intuitive, I guess. She gets these feelings sometimes and they're usually right."

"But she's just some girl who can see through the Mist," Nico said, and I wasn't sure if he was trying to convince me or himself.

I shrugged again. "Yeah," I said. "I know. I just… I guess I'm just a little freaked out."

Nico snorted softly. "_You're_ a little freaked out? _I'm_ the one she thinks is gonna kill somebody." I couldn't help but smile grimly. He had a pretty good point. It was like reading the prophecy all over again – I was scared enough, but how could I ever come close to being as scared as Nico was, when he was the one the words were talking about, and not me?

"Do you think she's right?" he finally asked.

I stared at Nico as he asked the one question we'd both been thinking but that I'd still somehow hoped wouldn't come up. I wasn't sure I had an answer, and somehow that made me feel worse than whichever answer I might actually give.

Nico, though, apparently took my silence as a 'yes'. "So you believe her," he said flatly, sliding out from under the blankets and groping around on the floor – presumably for his boots.

"No!" I said quickly, reaching out and grabbing one of his arms. He glared at me and I swallowed – I really was batting zero tonight. First Annabeth, and now Nico. I really didn't want him to misunderstand me, but how could I keep that from happening when I didn't really understand what I was thinking, myself?

"Well?" Nico asked, and I realized I'd just been sitting there grasping his arm for at least twenty seconds.

"Look, I – I don't know," I admitted, letting him go. He just stood there, but at least he wasn't trying to leave anymore. "It's just – look, it doesn't make sense. _You_ know that," I said, and Nico just rolled his eyes and nodded, because of course it was obvious. "But I also know that she wouldn't have called Annabeth's phone in the middle of the night if she didn't think it was really important."

"They really don't get along, do they," Nico murmured, suddenly totally off-topic. It sounded more like a statement than a question, so I didn't give him an answer and after a minute, he went on. "It's all because of you, isn't it?" He turned to face me and I had to look up at him because I was still sitting on the bed. "They both want you, and neither one can have what she wants."

I really wasn't sure what Nico was getting at – okay, so I knew by now that both Rachel and Annabeth had been interested in me. Annabeth had told me to my face, and I'd pretty much gathered recently that Rachel might kind of be interested too (and crap, she didn't even know I was taken, unless she'd had a feeling or a dream about _that_; I shuddered at the thought). I knew I should tell her something, but really, how were you supposed to bring up a subject like that?

Nico was still standing there, watching me with dark eyes. It was the first time in months that Nico looking at me actually made me feel uncomfortable. And he was still waiting for some kind of an answer.

"I guess so, yeah," was the best one I could give him. I didn't know why it was important to him. I couldn't tell what he was thinking – the look on his face was completely opaque. It was really disconcerting, considering how well I thought I'd gotten at reading him. But suddenly he seemed almost like a completely different person. It felt like that afternoon a few days ago when Chiron had taken us to the Big House and showed us the prophecy Nico was supposed to fulfill.

Nico had changed so much in the past few weeks. But then, was it really all that strange that he seemed different almost every time I turned around? Maybe it was just that he was letting the mask slip more and more around me (well, except for now, when it was so flawless that even I couldn't see past it). Even though we were more devoted to each other than most people might be comfortable with, we still had a lot to learn about each other. I was just thankful that I was getting the chance.

"Do you think it's going to happen tonight?" Nico asked, bringing me out of my thoughts as I blinked at him, taking a second to process the words into a proper sentence.

I frowned. "I hope not. You're not feeling randomly angry, are you?" I asked a bit wryly, though the attempt at humor failed a little more spectacularly than I'd hoped and I probably just sounded concerned.

Nico's eyes were dark, but he shook his head. "Not really. No more than the usual 'why me, I don't wanna save Olympus or whatever' bullshit."

That was probably a joke too, but it was just as bad as mine had been. Instead of making me laugh, it had me standing up and pulling him towards me and slamming our mouths together before he could blink. His taste filled my mouth as I kissed him sloppily, hands slipping around his waist and into the back pockets of his jeans.

"You know I believe in you," I murmured when I pulled back just enough so that I could speak, our noses brushing and breath mingling (and neither of us had brushed our teeth before bed, whoops). "You _know_ that, right?" Sometimes, with the way his voice sounded, the way his eyes looked – like they had just now, empty and hollow – I just had to tell him again. Just to make sure he knew.

Hands slid around my sides and under the hem of my t-shirt, and Nico's cool forehead pressed against mine. "You don't seem willing to let me forget," he said, but the words were soft and he wasn't angry. Not anymore. He just sounded a little blindsided. He always did, when I told him that. Like maybe he really _did_ forget, until I reminded him again. Which in my book was all the more reason to remind him.

"Nope," I answered smugly, and dove in for another long kiss until we couldn't breathe and we had to pull apart, flushed and panting and skin prickling. "C'mon," I said, tugging gently at his clothes, "let's go back to bed."


	5. Ch 4: Pieces of Me

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 4: Pieces Of Me**

_I know I know you well  
Better than I used to_

- Tear In Your Hand (Tori Amos)

When I woke up the next morning Nico was still sprawled beneath me, asleep. His face was relaxed and open once more so that, as I lay there watching him sleep, I almost wondered if I might have dreamed the look on his face last night. For a minute I kind of hoped I'd dreamed _all_ of last night – it really would've made things easier, especially with Annabeth, who spent all of breakfast shooting me glares of death from the Athena table across the dining pavilion.

Nico had been quiet all morning. He was staring at his food like he didn't really see it, and his hand just kept moving mechanically between his plate and his mouth. He'd been eating at the Poseidon table with me since Boston – I mean, he was already sleeping in my cabin. We'd figured that eating with me wasn't going to make anything worse.

Finally, I couldn't stand the silence any longer. "Nico?" I asked, as he paused in his constant fork-lifting to take a drink of orange juice.

But he didn't seem to hear me, and I had to scoot closer and say, "Nico?" again a little louder before his eyes finally slid over to notice me. "Look, are you okay?" I asked, glancing around but it seemed like everyone else was concentrating on their own breakfasts. It had finally been long enough that at least most of the staring had started to die down. We could walk together and talk together without someone catcalling every five minutes.

"Yeah," he said, swallowing the juice and picking up his fork again. "I'm fine."

"Really?"

"Really," he said, chewing on a mouthful of scrambled eggs, and that was the end of that.

I frowned, ignoring the remnants of my own breakfeast in lieu of watching him slowly eat his own. I was still worried about him. I mean, it wasn't like I expected him to spout every last feeling running through his mind in response to my questions – we were guys, after all, and that's just not the way guys work. But we were also _boyfriends_, and we were closer than I'd ever been to anyone else in my life and if something was wrong, I wanted to think that Nico would be able to talk to me about it. And his silence was really starting to bother me.

Because Nico had stopped talking to me about a lot of things ever since we'd read the prophecy. I guessed I couldn't really fault him for it. I mean, he was still getting used to being sixteen, and I knew it must be hard. And it had taken me four years to get used to the idea that I might be the subject of some big crazy prophecy. He'd barely had four _weeks_. And then there was the fact that only a week ago he'd pretty much found out he was supposed to die fulfilling it. I guessed I could understand not really wanting to talk about it. Maybe he just wanted time to figure things out on his own.

Besides, Nico had always been kind of quiet and moody to begin with. At least, that was what I told myself as I watched him sitting quietly with that dark, hooded look in his eyes that had become more the rule than the exception as of late.

The rest of the day went as normal as any day ever went anymore, except for the fact that Annabeth was pretty religiously avoiding talking to or dealing with me. I wanted to apologize, but I couldn't catch her alone and I figured it would be better just to give her a few days to cool down. It wasn't that I didn't trust her, after all... I just still didn't really know what to think about Rachel's dream and every time I imagined myself explaining it to Annabeth, Nico ended up in a locked room under guard and there was no way I was going to let that happen. I vowed that if anyone was going to keep an eye on Nico then it would be me, and that wasn't exactly hard when we spent most of our time together.

But days passed and nothing happened. I went to sleep every night with my arms wrapped around Nico – like maybe if I could just hold onto him, Rachel's horrible dream couldn't come true. I want to say that after a while I just forgot all about it completely, but it's funny how you just can't quite forget about someone telling you they think your boyfriend is going to kill some girl in the middle of the woods. Especially when you have no idea _why_. But all the same, it did start to seem less and less important as the days turned into a week and then almost another, and training and war councils and the thunderstorms rolling off Olympus made it easy to forget one mortal girl's frantic phone call in the middle of the night.

Nico had also stopped complaining about forgetting things – but I didn't know if that meant it had stopped or that he just didn't want me to blow it out of proportion again. I had a sinking feeling it wasn't the former. He spaced out a lot – and I do mean a _lot_. Especially during meals like he had the morning after Rachel's late-night phone call. I might have had company at my table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but that didn't seem to mean that I had anyone to actually talk to.

And keeping an eye on him made me notice just how much time he spent dark-eyed and silent. He could be fine one minute and then go all quiet and withdrawn the next. There was just _something_ I couldn't put my finger on. He could go from playful to serious to sexy all within ten minutes, and I knew it was probably just because he was stressed but I wasn't sure how much longer I should keep quiet about it.

Part of me felt like maybe I was just being stupid and shallow – like I was someone who thinks they like a person until they get their first taste of reality and realize they're really not all that great. And that made me feel horrible. It made me feel like there was no way I could confront him about it because then I would be making his father – and everyone else who thought we couldn't work – right. And there was no way I was going to back out on him now – or ever. But I was getting more worried by the day. The weird moods had only gotten more frequent, and sometimes I just wasn't sure how he'd react to even simple questions.

So it took me another few days to work up the nerve to grab Michael Yew by the elbow after field medicine class one day and murmur in his ear, "I need to talk to you."

"What is it?" he asked, frowning as I dragged him away from the small crush of campers heading for the dining pavilion to eat lunch. How anyone could actually be hungry after some of the stuff Michael had described I wasn't sure, but everyone did always seem in a rush to get out of here afterwards.

"I still think there's something wrong with Nico," I told him quickly, praying that for once Nico wouldn't beeline for me so we could eat together. "I don't think he's getting better."

Michael's frown deepened. "He's still forgetting things?" His eyes flickered over the thinning crowd of people, like he was looking for the subject of our whispered conversation.

"Not… exactly. He stopped talking about that," I explained, floundering just a little. After all, I didn't have any really solid evidence to back up my claim. "But he's acting – he's just… He's not –"

"Hey, Percy."

I almost jumped out of my skin as an ice-cold hand closed around my wrist. I looked over and realized that Nico had just stepped out of the midday shadows cast by the cluster of trees next to where Michael and I were standing. He'd been doing that a lot, lately – he said he was practicing his shadow traveling, and it _did_ seem to take a lot less out of him to travel short distances than it had a few weeks ago when he'd taken Annabeth and me along for the ride up a floor and a half at MIT. But it was still kind of startling when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere or, occasionally, grabbed me and dragged me completely unsuspecting back through the darkness to somewhere private to make out like the world was ending.

Well, maybe it _was_ ending, I thought miserably. At least, it kind of felt like it – and never mind the ancient Titan lord trying to take over Olympus and all that. I was starting to feel like I'd let the boy I loved slip right through my fingers, and that definitely felt worse than watching the hall of the gods go up in flames ever could. It made the scar sitting diagonally across my heart hurt.

"Hey," I said, as Nico sidled up next to me, letting my wrist go reluctantly as he glanced between me and Michael. "You wanna go on ahead?"

But it was Michael who answered, saying, "Actually, I'd like to talk to Nico. Alone."

Nico frowned – and so did I. It was obvious (to me, at least) what Michael suddenly wanted to talk to Nico about, and it turned my stomach to ice. Even though Michael had taken the initiative without my ever asking him to (that was just the way the Apollo camper was, after all), it felt a lot like asking your teacher to deal with someone bullying you at school instead of doing it yourself. It felt like tattling, and it felt pretty awful. It was like I couldn't even talk to Nico about what was bothering me on my own – I had to get Michael to do it.

Nico glanced at me then, and if my stomach hadn't already been colder than a block of Stygian ice, it would've turned into one just then. But he slipped around behind me to Michael's side and said, "I guess so. Just don't make it long – I'm hungry."

"We'll see," Michael said obliquely. His eyes slid to me before he glanced at the group of retreating campers further down the path, then back again. He was silently telling me to get lost.

Right. "Uh… I'll save you a seat," I said lamely (like there was anyone else to sit at my table with me) and started off down the path, the back of my neck prickling as Michael took Nico's elbow and began to talk. I couldn't hear them, but I could just imagine the way their conversation would go and none of the million scenarios I came up with in my head were good.

I mean, Michael wouldn't tell Nico that I'd brought the whole thing up, but I knew that Nico didn't need to be told. I'd see the look in his eyes. He knew.

I made my way to the dining pavilion only a little behind the crowd and heaped my plate with a sandwich and egg salad and chips even though I wasn't feeling very hungry. Just like every day, I scraped some of the food – a glop of egg salad this time – into the fire and whispered, "Please accept this… and let Nico be okay." It had become something of a litany. I couldn't remember the last time I hadn't asked for my boyfriend to please be all right. It probably wouldn't do any good, begging my father for Nico's sake, but I figured it hadn't made him angry so it couldn't hurt either, right?

I sat down and began eating my sandwich, only half-tasting the turkey and swiss cheese. I picked at the chips on the side of my plate, and kept an eye on the path leading back to the clearing where Michael had been holding the class.

Fifteen minutes and half my sandwich later, Silena Beauregard got up and walked past, and as I watched her back retreat down the path I saw a dark figure pass her and realized it was Nico. I gave a sort of lame half-wave that he returned as he got closer, and waited nervously as he got his own plate of food and sat down next to me, digging in with a fervor I hadn't seen in a while.

I watched him eat for a minute before I worked up the nerve to ask, "So?"

He glanced sideways at me and finished chewing the bite he was working on. "So what?"

"Uh," I said, and put my own sandwich down, figuring I might as well ask him about this now, rather than waiting and losing my nerve. "What'd he say?"

Nico frowned. "What'd… oh! Michael?" When I nodded (who else could I have meant?), Nico just shrugged and took another bite, his eyes sliding to his plate. "Nothing worth repeating. Not really that important."

"… Oh," I said, actually a little disappointed. Well, I guessed it was his right to keep me out of the loop if he wanted. I studied Nico's face, but it wasn't obvious that he was lying. In fact, he didn't look mad at all. Maybe Michael had only told him to get some rest or something. And even though I could have sworn earlier Nico knew that I'd mentioned something about his condition to Michael, Nico didn't seem to care at all about it now. I hoped that was for the best.

"Is that… okay?" Nico asked, giving me a sideways glance as he took another bite and chewed. "You seem kinda disappointed."

I shook my head. "What? No, not at all! I just… I wanted to make sure you're okay."

Nico rolled his eyes. "You sure do ask that a lot. I'm _fine_." He scooted a little closer, bumping shoulders. "Really. I've got you keeping an eye out for me, right?"

Maybe Michael had done more than Nico said – because _this_ was the Nico I'd been missing, only catching in snatches when I had the time to bring him out of his shell. I hoped this wasn't just another of those times, but rather the beginning of things getting back to how they were really supposed to be. "Yeah," I said, smiling back. "I try."

"Cool," Nico grinned.

Everyone was finishing up with lunch and people had begun to trickle out of the dining pavilion and towards their afternoon activities when I saw someone – Silena – come tearing back down the path in our direction. She raced over to the table where Chiron was eating, panting a bit as she came to a stop in the dust and not even caring that it was getting all over her pink Jimmy Choos.

Pretty much every eye and ear in the pavilion was on her as she waved her arms in the direction from which she'd just come, silver bracelets jingling, and said, "Michael Yew's been attacked! He's hurt pretty badly!" It was then that I noticed the red smudged on her hands and the way her hair was falling out of its fancy french twist.

Chiron immediately stood, his tail flicking agitatedly. "My dear, calm down," he said, quietly but quickly. "What did you see? Where is he now?"

She pointed down the path. "Just down there… I think he was on his way to lunch. He's unconscious. I don't know what happened! I just went to go find him to talk and there he was!"

Chiron motioned to the Apollo table, where everyone left had stopped eating and was already on their feet. They took off down the path, presumably to find their half-brother and do what they could for him.

"Everyone please stay calm," Chiron said, addressing those of us still seated. "Afternoon activities are canceled; please reconvene in your cabins for now. If you find something or someone suspicious, send for me at once." Then he ushered Silena in front of him and the two of them started up the hill as well. All around us, people were getting up from their tables and heading back for their cabins. Some were grabbing food to bring with them, and everyone was talking all at once.

Next to me, Nico was looking kind of blindsided – and suddenly I got this horrible, terrible sinking feeling in my stomach. I grabbed his hand, practically falling off the bench and dragging him with me. He managed to grab the remains of his sandwich just before I half-dragged him out of the dining pavilion and towards cabin three.

"Hey!" he called from behind me, but I could only tighten my grip and walk faster. We needed to talk, and we couldn't do it where anyone else might hear. When we were finally safely within my cabin with the door firmly shut, I turned to him as he stood there holding his half-eaten sandwich, staring at me.

"Nico," I said slowly, trying not to get worked up even though my insides felt like they were plummeting towards the center of the earth, "what did you and Michael _do_?"

Nico just frowned at me. "I... we talked. And then I came to lunch. That's all." Then his mouth fell open. "Wait a second Percy, you don't think that _I_ – "

But the way his brow had furrowed at the question sent a shot of icy horror through my stomach. "Nico," I said quietly, "do you remember what you talked _about_?"

Dark eyes fixed on mine, and I could see the answer in them before he said it. "Not... not exactly," he said quietly. "But," he went on quickly, forcefully, as he realized just what that meant in terms of the evidence, "there's no reason I'd want to hurt him! You know that!" He spread his arms in exasperation. "We must have just talked! It wasn't even that long between when you left me with him and when I came to lunch. Percy," he said, pleading, "you know I didn't do it."

I wanted to believe him. I _needed_ to believe him. We both knew there was no way Nico would hurt a fellow camper like that, even if he was angry about something he'd said. (Well, okay, he'd gotten into numerous fights with Clarisse before, but who hadn't? That didn't count.) But the fact that he couldn't remember what they'd talked about...

"Percy!" Nico said again, and I realized he'd stepped closer, tossing his sandwich on the first available bed so he could grasp me by the arms. "I didn't do this," he said, looking me right in the eyes. "You _know_ I didn't."

I swallowed. Of course I wanted to believe him, and he sounded just as scared about this as I felt. But he couldn't remember, and I couldn't just forget Rachel's dream –

"Rachel's dream!" I said suddenly, bringing my own hands up to grasp his arms in return. Nico frowned at me, probably wondering why I sounded so relieved. I admit, it was crazy, but it was like I needed to prove this to Nico as much as he needed to prove it to me. "Listen – Rachel said you'd kill someone. Or," I added quickly, "that she'd dreamed you killing someone. Which may or may not happen, since it was probably just a regular dream anyway." We weren't here to debate that right now. "But Michael's not dead," at least, I really hoped not, "and he's not a girl. So even if... there's no way, right?"

Nico understandably didn't look all that relieved, but he was nodding slowly. "I guess," he mumbled. Then he looked back up into my eyes, and maybe I'd been feeling like I couldn't see past his mask lately, but right now there was no question that everything he was was looking right back at me when I looked at him. And he really was just as scared as I was. "Do you still believe what she said? About me killing someone?"

"I..." Nico deserved the truth. "I don't know," I admitted, pulling him closer so that my hands met around his waist. I trusted Rachel, after all, but why would her dreams come true in the first place? I couldn't reconcile the two. "I don't want to."

"Neither do I," Nico said, tilting his head to half-bury his face in my shoulder. Again I was very forcefully reminded that he was still twelve, even though the body I was holding was bigger and might very well be stronger than mine. And that he didn't know what was happening any more than I did.

Finally he moved, pulling back just a little so he could say, "I really didn't do it, Percy. Just because I can't remember exactly what he said doesn't matter, right?"

"Right," I said, smiling a bit and tugging him even closer. Because he _was_ right – just because he couldn't remember their conversation really well didn't mean he'd gone crazy and attacked Michael. That just wasn't Nico and even though I'd had to ask, I'd known it from the start. "But Nico," I said into his hair, "you're still forgetting stuff."

He stiffened, but he didn't pull away. "Yeah," he said eventually. "Kinda."

I pushed him away a little, just to look at him from arms' length. "What do you mean, 'kinda'?"

Nico shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Well, it's like I told you before. I forget what I said to people. I forget talking to them altogether. But I know it happened."

I sucked in a breath. It was time to man up and ask him, since maybe Michael had, but that point was moot right now. "Is it worse?"

Nico swallowed, his eyes darting around a bit before they came back to rest on mine. "I think so."

I felt my throat tighten as I pulled him back against me, for the fiftieth time that summer wishing I could just make all the bad stuff _go away_. "Look," I said, choking out the words around the lump in my throat, "you gotta tell me this stuff. I'm not gonna just... just turn you in to the loony bin or anything, you know that."

Nico's arms slowly came around my back, and I felt more than heard him take a deep breath. "I... yeah, I know," he said quietly, just leaning against me. "But I feel like I'm losing my mind. What am I supposed to do? I don't know if Michael could've helped, even."

I didn't know either, so I just held him tighter and figured that maybe having the afternoon off wasn't so bad after all. Right now Nico was acting like Nico again, and not some half-present person with Nico's face that didn't really talk to me. I didn't know what had happened when he'd talked to Michael, or what had happened to the poor Apollo camper after Nico left, but I did know that right now Nico and I were together and that whatever happened, whatever was wrong with him, we'd deal with it together.


	6. Ch 5: Under Pressure

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 5: Under Pressure**

_Sat on a fence but it don't work  
Keep coming up with love  
but it's so slashed and torn_

- Under Pressure (Queen/David Bowie)

Of course, knowing that Nico hadn't hurt Michael didn't really narrow things down a whole lot. The two of us speculated on what might have happened, but we kept coming up with nothing and after a while Nico didn't really seem interested in talking about it anymore. I couldn't blame him overly much, so we'd long since given up when the knock came at the cabin door later that afternoon, just before the conch shell sounded for dinner.

It was Annabeth. Her eyes slid to the side as I answered the door, and she said (mostly to the doorframe), "Chiron's called a war council after dinner. Make sure you and Nico are there." Then she turned and headed away, not even giving me the chance to ask any questions or, gods forbid, apologize. After all, we both knew I still owed her one.

Nico was quiet at dinner; then again, so was everyone else. I tried not to let it bother me as we ate in silence before trudging up the path to the Big House, its windows lit and glowing as dusk began to fall. It felt later than it really was, but I was used to the long hours of daylight during the summer whenever I was at Camp Half-Blood. It felt weird being at camp so late in the year – normally I went home when summer ended and school started. But that had been weeks ago. It had been hard talking Mom into letting me stay, but in the end she'd relented, unhappily. I'd promised her that when the war was over, I'd take as many summer school classes as she wanted. That had seemed to make her a little happier. (I admit I wasn't too thrilled about it, though.)

The rec room was nearly full, most of the cabin heads already there ahead of us. My stomach immediately clenched as I realized that Michael Yew wouldn't be present. Instead I saw Will Solace standing near the door as we walked in. He was frowning and looked pretty preoccupied. I guess I didn't blame him – after all, one of his half-brothers had been badly injured when he should have been safe.

Katie Gardner and Dionysus' son Pollux were sitting in folding card chairs by the ping pong table. Next to them in their usual spot were Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard. Silena was leaning against Beckendorf like he was the only thing keeping her up, and she looked pretty awful. Her face was paler than usual, like she hadn't bothered to put on makeup – not that I normally notice stuff like that, but Silena usually had so much makeup on that it was obvious now that she didn't. Her hair was in a ponytail without any sort of fancy clips or ribbons, and her hands kept playing nervously with her bracelets. I wondered just how bad Michael had looked when she'd found him. Then I decided I didn't want to think about that, after all.

Nico took up a position near an old box of badminton equipment that had definitely seen better days. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall like he didn't really want to be here. I just stood uncomfortably next to him, wishing that we weren't having this meeting. After all, no one liked the idea that we might not be safe inside Camp Half-Blood anymore.

Not long after we arrived Connor and Travis Stoll came in, much more subdued than usual. They glanced around the room before taking the remaining two card chairs and spinning them around backwards so they could sit with their arms resting on the backs. They began muttering quietly to themselves, though one or the other would glance around the room every so often before going back to the conversation with his brother.

I wondered what they were talking about – though it didn't really take all _that_ much wondering to at least come to a pretty likely conclusion. After all, what else was there to talk about? I wondered if they knew something we didn't, but it was unlikely. As far as I knew, no one knew any more than anyone else, except maybe Silena, and I wasn't about to go up and ask her exactly what she'd seen.

I heard arguing from out in the hallway and a minute later Chiron trotted into the room, looking distinctly unhappy. He was followed closely by Annabeth and Clarisse, who were holding a pretty heated discussion.

"Whatever it was, it's probably either hiding or long gone!" Annabeth was saying as she entered the room.

"Yeah, well, _whoever_ it was might just be biding their time, y'know," Clarisse countered, glancing at me – no, at _Nico_ – for just a split second. I frowned, about to consider telling her just how wrong she was, if she was thinking what she had to be thinking, when Chiron raised his hands.

"Enough," he said, and even though he didn't yell or anything, Clarisse and Annabeth both fell grudgingly silent. He then looked around the room at the heads of the cabins that had assembled. "Everyone, you know why I've called this meeting." He nodded in Will's direction. "Michael Yew, though badly injured, will make a full recovery. He's resting comfortably now."

"What did he see?" Beckendorf asked, standing up a little straighter even as he slipped an arm around Silena, who remained silent and hollow-eyed. "Did he see whatever attacked him?"

Will was the one to answer. "He doesn't remember," he said quietly, as all eyes in the room turned on him. He looked at Chiron like he was asking permission for something, and the activities director nodded so Will went on. "But I examined him myself and I can say that his injuries were more consistent with claws or teeth than a weapon."

Chiron nodded and picked up where Will left off. "There should have been no monster activity in that area, but with no eyewitnesses..." He trailed off, and for a moment I thought he was done. But then he looked right at Nico and said, "That is correct, right?"

Everyone turned to stare at Nico, and my stomach clenched all over again. _Thanks, Chiron_, I thought somewhat bitterly. If everyone hadn't known before that Nico was the last person to see Michael before it happened, they sure did now. And Clarisse looked ready to throttle him for it.

I turned, expecting Nico to be angry. But he actually looked _bored_, if anything. I frowned. That really wasn't how people were supposed to look when they were possibly being accused of seeing or doing something bad. And it especially didn't mesh with the way Nico had been acting earlier when _I'd_ talked to him about it. Maybe I'd calmed him down when we'd both decided that it couldn't have been him, but really, couldn't he at least look a little less... uninterested?

I poked him surreptitiously with one elbow as he glanced up at Chiron. "That's right," he said calmly. "I didn't see anything."

Across the room, I saw Clarisse's eyes narrow. I could just tell that she was thinking something was up, and I didn't like that. Just because she didn't like Nico didn't mean I was going to let her think he was... evil, or whatever. Because he wasn't. He didn't go around attacking people.

"Look," I said, addressing everyone in the room. "Nico was with me right before and probably while it happened. He didn't do or see anything." After all, I reasoned, it could have just as likely happened between when Nico arrived in the dining pavilion and Silena got to the end of the path. I'd probably thought that a million times since we'd been sent to our cabins this afternoon. Monsters could be fast. It made sense.

"What Percy said," Nico added, glancing at me and finally looking at least a little grateful instead of just bored.

Clarisse took a step forward, but Chiron spoke before she could. "No one's accusing you of anything, Nico," he said calmly. "But anything you could tell us would make our search for the attacker that much easier."

Nico just shrugged. "I really didn't see anything," was all he said. "We talked and then I left to eat lunch. Michael stayed to clean up. That's all."

"So he says," Clarisse muttered, but thankfully no one took the bait. I unclenched a fist I hadn't realized I was making.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Pollux asked, shifting uncomfortably in his card chair. I felt bad for him – I mean, his twin brother, Castor, had been killed earlier this year when... well, the only other time monsters had gotten into Camp Half-Blood. I supposed something like this hit just a little closer to home for him. "There could still be a monster loose in the camp."

Around the ping pong table, heads nodded. Sure, there were monsters roaming the woods for training, but they were brought in and they didn't stray. So whatever had attacked Michael had come from somewhere else, but that meant it could have escaped just as easily. But maybe it hadn't.

"I've put the nymphs and dryads on alert," Chiron said, standing up a little straighter. "And I've put in a call to some allies who can help us. They'll be here tomorrow to search the camp thoroughly; if there is still a monster lurking anywhere in the camp, they will find it. Tonight I ask that everyone go straight back to their cabins and remain there. The campfire has been canceled and the harpies will be making extra rounds. I will also be standing watch."

I wondered who these 'allies' were, but Chiron didn't give me or anyone else the chance to ask. He glanced at the window, where dusk was already giving way to real darkness. "I believe we should conclude things now. Please return to your cabins."

I didn't know if he was ending things because he was actually worried about us walking back in the dark, or because he'd seen the way Clarisse was looking at Nico. I guessed it didn't matter. But even as I wound myself up for an unpleasant confrontation with the daughter of Ares, she turned on her heel and stomped out, muttering to herself. Everyone else began filing out as well. Annabeth left before I could catch up to her, but I guessed that was okay. Even I realized that now was not a good time to try to apologize, anyway. There was too much tension in the air and besides that, I was worried about Nico all over again. He headed out of the room behind Katie Gardner's retreating back, barely giving me time to catch up with him.

"Hey, wait up!" I told him, finally falling into step beside him. "What was that all about?"

Nico glanced at me, his eyes dark. "What was what about?"

"You! In there," I motioned to the Big House behind us. "You looked like you couldn't be bothered to... I don't know. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Nico said, rolling his eyes. I just kept looking at him, and when it became clear that answer wouldn't be good enough for me, he said, "Look... I'm just sick of being a scapegoat, okay? Being the son of Hades isn't exactly easy."

"You're acting like I don't know that," I said, feeling kind of stung. Did he think I didn't know how hard it had been for him? Okay, so I hadn't gone through the kind of stuff he had, but I was trying to be there for him and it was awfully hard when he acted bratty like this. He wasn't the only kid who'd had bad stuff happen to him. "I do," I said.

"Do you?"

"Nico." I actually stopped walking in the middle of the path, grabbing him by the elbow. "What's wrong with you?"

He glanced around us, but when he seemed to realize that everyone else had skirted around us while we walked and gone on ahead, he sighed. "I'm just tired," he said, stepping a little closer. "Really tired. That's all."

I got the feeling that it wasn't just the physical kind of tired he was talking about. I pulled him closer, sliding the hand grasping his elbow around to his back. "I know." I was about to tell him (again) that he wasn't going to have to do any of this alone when I heard hoofbeats and Chiron appeared behind us, looming in the darkness. He had his bow and a quiver of arrows slung across his back.

He glanced down, and I thought I might have seen a hint of sympathy in his expression as he said, "When I said to return to your cabins, I meant everyone," he chided. Then he flicked his tail and went around us, trotting towards the U-shape of cabins ahead.

I sighed, but grinned a bit wanly. "Come on," I said, digging Nico's hand out of his pocket so I could hold it as we walked back to the Poseidon cabin in relative – but more comfortable – silence.

But I could only stay silent so long. "So who do you think these allies Chiron was talking about are?" I asked as we crossed the threshold and shut the door behind us.

Beside me Nico just groaned. "Can we not talk about that?" he asked, glancing at me like I was crazy.

"But it's important," I said, going over to my bed to sit down and pulling Nico down next to me. "Don't you care?"

Nico shrugged tiredly. "I guess so. But not right now," he said. "It's all we ever talk about. Who's doing what and how whoever is gonna kill us. It gets old."

Now it was my turn to shrug helplessly. "I guess that's what people talk about when they fight a war."

"Yeah, well, I didn't sign up for a war," Nico frowned, looking away for a minute. "And I don't like being drafted."

"Yeah..." I agreed, because he _was_ right, after all. We were in this because of who our parents were, not really because we had any choice. Sure, we could turn our backs on everything and run away, but... somehow stuff like that never worked out. I'd gotten the impression that a lot of Annabeth's childhood was proof of that.

"Okay, so no talking about it – _tonight_," I agreed, flopping over onto my back. "You must be pretty tired," I said, glancing down to where our fingers were still intertwined. "We should try and get some sleep." I wasn't sure anyone was going to get a really good night's sleep, though.

The hand in mine squeezed my fingers and Nico was suddenly leaning down over me. "Don't tell me you were planning on turning in early," he murmured, his lips suddenly right next to my ear.

"... You're gonna be the death of me," I groaned, then winced at the horrible double meaning. I glanced up worriedly, but Nico only chuckled.

"Hopefully not tonight," he said.

---

That night I had a dream about Nico. He was sitting in the corner of my cabin at the far end where the saltwater fountain gurgled quietly. (It had been repaired after I'd shattered it earlier during the summer when Bianca had sent me anonymous Iris-messages from the Underworld so I could keep an eye on Nico.) The water fell from the spout so slowly that I knew I must be dreaming.

I drifted closer and saw that Nico was staring into the stream of water, muttering something in a low voice that I couldn't quite catch. He was calling someone, I realized. The image in the water was dark, but I wasn't sure if that was because whoever he was calling was in some dark place or because there was something keeping me from seeing who he was talking to.

I was almost at Nico's shoulder. I still couldn't see into the spray, but I could hear him talking now. "I can't do this," he was saying, his voice low and gravelly. "I can't keep this up forever."

I frowned. Who was he talking to? And what was he talking _about_? Sure, I knew he felt like he couldn't keep this up, that he wouldn't be a good leader and that he didn't want to be the child of the prophecy. But who would he be telling that to?

The water seemed to swirl even darker, almost shimmering with the lack of light. Then I heard a voice, but it was dark and thick and it was hard to make out the words. They might have been in English, or they might have been in Ancient Greek – I couldn't even tell, but I could understand them all the same. "Of course you can't," the person on the other side said. "It is already too late to pull out."

"No!" Nico cried, and he dashed his hand through the water angrily, spilling black droplets everywhere. But the droplets didn't disperse – they started to come back together, little globs of liquid floating through the air like they did on the space shuttle.

My dream-self backed away a little, trying to figure out what was going on. The globs stuck together until they formed one big dark glob, still inky-black. I could see two glowing gold indentations form where eyes would be on a person, and a dark cave-like mouth opened wide. The blob-creature advanced, its mouth growing like it was trying to swallow Nico whole.

Even though I knew I couldn't do anything in a dream, I rushed forward just as Nico stumbled backwards. We collided and for a second my vision reeled, like my brain couldn't figure out if I was seeing out of Nico's eyes or my own. I felt sheer horror cascade over me like an icy waterfall, followed quickly by shock and despair that cut at me worse than any blade. I felt like I was drowning for the first time in my life.

In the split second that it took me to realize that I was feeling what _Nico_ felt, my dream-body was already through him, like I was a ghost that could pass through normal matter. The torrent of emotions disappeared as suddenly as they'd started when I came out on the other side, between Nico and the monster. I spun around to see Nico staring right at me –

I started awake, the bed actually squeaking as my body jerked. Nico was kneeling beside me in the bed with the covers hiked over his shoulders. His eyes were wide in the dim light.

"N-Nico?" I asked, struggling to push myself up onto my elbows. My muscles were still shaking.

"You were dreaming," he said after a minute, touching the side of my face with cool fingers. "Are you okay?"

I frowned in the darkness, looking up at the outline of his face. The cold from his hand seemed to numb my throbbing temples, bleeding some of the tension from the dream out of me.

I lay there for a minute catching my breath and trying to make sense of the dream. I still didn't know what it meant, and it couldn't have been a vision like my dreams sometimes were because those were usually happening in the present. But Nico had been sleeping right next to me...

As I looked up into his face, I remembered all those emotions that had washed over me like a freezing current, threatening to pull me away like a riptide. Was that really how he felt? But why wouldn't he tell me? Did he not want me to know? Even I knew that the strongest heroes weren't immune to fear. I wouldn't have thought any less of him for it. He had to know that.

But there was also the matter of the other things that had happened in the dream – the strange Iris-message and the monster. I still didn't know if I'd seen the future. I didn't know if I had seen or felt anything real at all. But I didn't know what else it could be...

Unless it had been one of Nico's dreams. The realization hit me like running into a wall. What if I _had_ seen what was happening in the present – inside Nico's head? What if he had dreams about some horrible monster coming out of the darkness to swallow him whole? What if that instant of terror that I'd felt was what he was feeling _all the time_?

I didn't know if that was even possible or if it made any sense at all, but it didn't make any _less_ sense than any of the other possibilities. I opened my mouth to say... I don't know what, but anything I might have said died before it ever reached my lips. Because telling Nico about what I'd seen and felt wouldn't help anything at all. It would just be one more thing to heap onto him when he was barely holding on (and I shivered, remembering what he'd sounded like in my – his? – dream and how accurate that really was).

Nico didn't need that. Nico wanted to take care of himself, sure, but that didn't mean I couldn't try to take some of the burden, did it? Even if he didn't ask for it. That's what you did for the people you loved. I was already determined to protect him from Rachel's dream. Why couldn't I protect him from this one as well?

"Yeah," I said finally, taking a deep breath and curling my fingers around his. "It was just a bad dream. I didn't mean to wake you up."

He settled down next to me, stretching along the length of my body. "It's okay," he said, but then punctuated that statement with a yawn.

I laughed, laying back down against the pillows as well. "Right," I murmured. I slid my arms around him, pulling him as close as I could. I tried to reassure him wordlessly that whatever monsters he might face, I wouldn't let him lose. I wouldn't lose him again, ever.

But for a long time after I closed my eyes, all I could see was Nico's face in my dream, his skin ashen and his eyes wide in terror and dismay.


	7. Ch 6: Things Denied

**The Ties That Bind**

Chapter 6: Things Denied

_What happened to us  
We used to be so perfect, now we're lost and lonely  
What happened to us  
And deep inside I wonder, did I lose my only?_

- What Happened To Us? (Hoobastank)

Morning came a lot sooner than it should have, in my opinion, and we didn't talk much as we pulled on clothes and stumbled out of the cabin. Nico didn't mention my dream and I wasn't inclined to do so, either. If he wanted to think that I'd forgotten all about it, then that was fine with me. I felt bad for not talking to him about it, but I'd begun to realize that the best way to keep Nico safe was to not let him know I was trying to do it. Don't ask me why I figured that, but it seemed like the best plan at the time. After all, Nico was pretty stubborn. It was one of the things I liked about him so much – he wasn't willing to back down when he cared about something. Sometimes it was annoying, but sometimes it made him the bravest person I'd ever met.

The first thing I noticed as we walked into the dining pavilion was that one of the tables that was normally empty, well, _wasn't_. See, just like there are cabins for Artemis and Hera, there are tables dedicated to them in the dining pavilion and they're also just for show – usually. But this morning there was a group of girls eating at the Artemis table. Most of them had bows or knives either strapped to their bodies or sitting just beside them, and none of them seemed to take notice of any of the other campers – all of which were staring at them. Instead they were talking quietly amongst themselves like they were better or more important than everyone else. Well, they were kind of right, in a way. After all, they were immortal. They were also sworn off men, which most of them seemed to think was a great idea. I wasn't sure immortality would be worth it if I didn't have somebody to share it with. Not that I'd exactly thought about it a lot or anything, though.

Nico immediately stiffened next to me, and of course I knew why. Bianca had left Nico to become a Hunter of Atermis – for all of a few days before she'd died. Of course he would feel uncomfortable around them. Honestly, I wasn't sure if they'd feel all that comfortable about _him_. Or me – after all, I'd managed to help get two of their ranks killed in the space of just a couple days. (Sure, you can try to tell me it's not my fault, and most of me would believe you, but not all of me. There was a part of me that never stopped thinking that every person I'd ever seen die might have somehow been my fault. I guess it's just the way I am.)

I realized we'd both stopped walking; I reached over and took Nico's hand in mine and started walking again towards the Poseidon table. As we slid onto the bench my eyes searched the Artemis table, but one of the Hunters was conspicuously missing: Artemis' first lieutenant and the daughter of Zeus, Thalia. With her dark hair and punky clothes she would have stood out right away, but after a few visual sweeps I realized she just wasn't there.

Next to me, Nico was staring at the group of girls (who hadn't seemed to notice us at all). I could see that his jaw was clenched. I squeezed his hand, almost making him jump before I grinned as best I could and said, "I'll get us some food." I got up and walked right past the Hunters on my way to get a tray of food for Nico and myself. I did my best not to pay attention to them, heaping pancakes and sausage onto two plates, but it was hard not to notice that all their conversation had ceased.

I walked by them again and over to the brazier in the center of the pavilion, scraping off a couple sausages from both plates. "For Poseidon, and Hades," I murmured, watching the thick black smoke as the fire hissed when the greasy sausages hit it. "Please, let Nico be okay. Both of you."

But like usual, nothing happened. I went back to the table and put Nico's breakfast in front of him, which he at least ate, even if he didn't seem very interested in it. I scooted a little closer so our sides were touching and started in on my own breakfast, trying to let him know that I understood how he felt. Maybe not entirely, but at least a little bit.

Of course, eating was kind of hard because I realized that now all the girls at the Artemis table _were_ paying attention to us. Not directly, but every time I glanced up from a forkful of pancakes I saw one or two of them averting their eyes like they'd just been staring at us. Nico was still tense next to me; I was sure he saw it too. All around us, the other tables were murmuring amongst themselves, probably either at the Hunters' reactions or mine and Nico's. I wanted to tell them to mind their own business, but I was pretty sure that would only make things worse.

Then suddenly all of the murmuring fell silent. The _clink!_ of my fork against my plate as my hand slipped sounded way too loud as I turned around to see Chiron entering the pavilion, with the previously absent Hunter at his side. Thalia's hair was longer than I'd remembered, pulled up into a messy ponytail so that a couple of strands fell around her face despite the silver tiara circling her head. Her bright blue eyes were looking straight at me – no, _next_ to me. She was looking at Nico.

I turned to see him looking warily back up at her. But even so, she and Chiron walked right past our table and into the center of the pavilion, where Chiron stopped and held up a hand for silence even though he already had it. I guessed it was habit.

"Campers," he said, his voice echoing off the marble, "I have called the Hunters here to ensure that the monster responsible for yesterday's attack has either fled or is caught. Please do not hinder their attempts, and assist them if they ask. I expect you to treat them with the utmost respect." He nodded down to Thalia, who was looking like she didn't really like being the center of attention but had long ago accepted that she couldn't help it. I pretty much knew how she felt.

"We shouldn't be long, and we don't plan to get in your way. All the same, if you see anything suspicious, don't try to deal with it on your own. I know you can," she said quickly, looking around the arena. A lot of these kids had known her, and all of them knew who she was even if they'd never officially met. Thalia was supposed to be dead. And, barring that, she wasn't supposed to have existed in the first place. Just like me. Just like Nico. "But this is our job, and we will get it done," Thalia finished, to a round of nods from the girls at the Artemis table. They all stood, obviously finished with their breakfast, and with a nod from Chiron Thalia led them out of the pavilion.

As soon as they'd gone, Chiron announced, "Normal activities will resume this morning, but be on your guard. As Thalia said, let her or myself know at once if you see or hear anything suspicious." And with a flick of his tail he trotted away up the path to the Big House, leaving the dining pavilion in a sudden cacophony of voices as everyone started talking again.

Nico pushed his plate away, a couple of half-eaten pancakes still soaking in the maple syrup pooling around the edges. I looked down at my own plate and realized I wasn't really hungry anymore, either. There was something about the Hunters being here that made me feel uneasy, even if I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe it was just the fact that they had to be here in the first place. After all, it was only another reminder that something had managed to sneak in and practically maul Michael Yew in broad daylight. That didn't sit to well with anyone, I was sure.

"Come on, let's get to the arena. Maybe we can warm up against each other or something," I suggested, levering myself up off the bench. Nico and I had sword and shield training with the Ares (ugh) and Hermes cabins this morning.

Nico followed me in silence, trudging alongside me until I couldn't take it anymore and stepped off the path into the shade, pulling him in beside me. We weren't exactly hidden, but most of the campers had either still been working on their breakfast or talking about the Hunters when we'd left. I didn't think we'd have anyone happen upon us for a couple of minutes at least.

"Hey," I said, pulling him close. He just slouched against me, hands in his pockets, like he mostly wanted to be close but also didn't. I snuck my arms under his and around his back anyway. "Hey, are you okay?"

He snorted a bit and glanced up into my face. "You ask me that a lot."

"Well, I mean it a lot," I replied, leaning my forehead against his. It was cool and solid, almost like the shadows around us. Suddenly I didn't want to go to sword practice at all – I wanted to melt into the shadows like Nico did and never leave. I almost thought about asking him to take us somewhere, but I knew we couldn't. We'd be missed. And I was sure that no matter where Nico took us, the Hunters would find us if someone raised an alarm and the whole thing would be more trouble than it was worth. But just barely.

"Yeah," Nico said, leaning against me in silence until we heard shuffling coming from a little ways down the path. Then Nico glanced up and suddenly we _were_ falling though the shadows, flying through the darkness for a mere instant before we were standing in the far end of the training arena, next to where we kept all of the dummies Mrs. O'Leary had chewed to death.

"Heh," I said, feeling a little breathless as we pulled apart. "Thanks."

"Yeah," Nico said, and we wandered over to the center as the first few campers started to trickle in. I was still worried about him, especially since I knew the Hunters' presence must still be bothering him, but I didn't have a whole lot of time to think any more about it as Clarisse and the rest of her cabin showed up and practice started in earnest.

Practice started out like normal, but everyone was tense and no one joked around very much – not that anyone had been joking around a whole lot before, either. I just hoped the Hunters would be able to find whatever had attacked Michael, if it was still here. And I hoped they killed it.

Nonetheless, I tried to keep my mind on the task at hand. I loved sword training – it was the thing I was best at, and it also let me get out any frustration in a relatively safe environment. And I'd had a lot of frustration, lately. But the fact that I had to do it with Clarisse and her siblings was sometimes more of a headache than I wanted to deal with.

Okay, so I was only "Nancy Jackson" half the time anymore, but that was mostly because almost all of Clarisse's attention had been focused on Nico lately. It was no secret that they didn't get along – and I mean _worse_ than she and I didn't get along, and we'd certainly never make friends of the year. Clarisse didn't trust anyone to begin with, and she trusted Nico less than anyone else in camp. In fact, she pretty much loathed him, and I knew that the feeling was mutual. I couldn't blame Nico for hating her just as much as she hated him, but now was not the time for personal grudges. I knew Clarisse didn't think we should be following Nico into battle (or anywhere, for that matter) but aside from her usual complaints at war councils at least she kept pretty quiet about it.

Until today. Maybe it was the breach in security that had pushed her over the edge, but we didn't get halfway through the morning's exercises before the fight broke out. I wasn't on the same side of the arena when it started, but pretty soon the shouts started to get the attention of everyone else. After all, these were no longer shouts of encouragement or catcalling, but cries to stop.

I rushed over to the knot of campers that had suddenly sprung up in the center of the arena, but I was stopped at the edge by the mass of people crowding around the two people in the middle: Nico and Clarisse.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ I thought. I shouldn't have let us get separated during the drills, but Nico and I usually trained in different groups. I hadn't thought about the fact that today it might be a bad idea until now. And by now it was clearly too late.

"Say that again," Nico was saying, his pitch black sword dangling lightly but deadly from his right hand. His voice sounded gravelly and tired – just like it had in my dream. His eyes looked hollow in his face, which seemed like it had gone even paler in the bright sunlight.

Clarisse spat on the ground in front of him, just barely missing the toes of his boots. Her face had seemed to go redder, if anything. "I said, _you're_ probably the one they're looking for." She narrowed her eyes as they paced around each other like hunter and prey. I couldn't tell who was hunting who, though. "You were the last person Yew talked to before it happened. I bet he had you figured out, so you messed him up and now you're acting like it wasn't your fault." She swung her own weapon – an electrical spear (her second) – around in an arc to point at Nico's chest before she took a step forward. "Well, I'm on to you. I'm not going to let you lead us to our deaths, you little traitor."

"Nico didn't do it!" I shouted, fighting my way to the front of the crowd, my own sword gripped tightly in my hand. "You heard Will! It wasn't a person that attacked Michael, it was a monster."

Clarisse swung her ugly face around to me. "Oh yeah? Well who's to say your little boyfriend didn't have some monster at his beck and call to do his bidding for him?" She tilted her head back at Nico, her disgust more evident than ever on her face. "We all know how many _unsavory_ things the Underworld has to offer, after all."

Before I – or anyone else – could say or do anything, Nico suddenly leapt at Clarisse while her face was turned. She twisted and parried just in time, his Stygian iron sword screeching off her spear with a sound like nails on a chalkboard. She pushed him off with a kick to the stomach and Nico stumbled backwards, but before I could breathe he'd shot back at Clarisse again as they let loose on each other like the rest of us weren't even there.

Like everyone else pressed at the edge of some invisible line that no one dared to cross, I was frozen in place as I watched. I could barely follow what was happening as they fought, no-holds-barred, in the middle of the arena. Nico was a good fighter, but today he was _amazing_. I'd seen him fight before, but never like this. He got up close in Clarisse's face, dancing in and out of range and attacking her like a shadow so she only had seconds to parry with the shaft of her spear, which was much better as a ranged weapon than for the close-up fight Nico was pressing her into. I had to admit, Nico's strategy was effective; he was wearing her down. Clarisse was a heavy hitter, but that meant she had to _hit_ you to do any damage. Even taller and broader than he had been before, Nico was still faster than Clarisse and it was starting to make her angry and reckless.

The Ares campers were shouting, egging Nico on and telling Clarisse to run him through. The Hermes kids were shouting, egging them _both_ on and cheering for whoever was winning at the moment. I finally snapped out of my stupor and tried to climb through ring of bodies that had pressed in front of me again to get to the combatants, but there were too many arms and legs and torsos in the way. By the time I broke through the line of people in front and stumbled a couple steps past where any of them dared, Nico and Clarisse were both sweaty and dusty with a smattering of cuts on their faces and arms. I didn't know how this was going to end, but I knew I had to stop it before anyone got the chance to find out.

But Clarisse was ready for it to stop as well. She brought her spear down and around in an arc almost too fast to see, but somehow Nico met it with his sword. There was a loud electrical _snap!_ that set the hairs on my arms on end as the spear's shaft sparked and sizzled, but Stygian iron apparently didn't conduct because Nico just slid his blade past hers and suddenly Clarisse was on the ground as her weapon clattered away in the dust. Nico stepped forward, one steel-toed boot on her chest as he pointed his sword at her throat and the world seemed to stop as everyone froze.

"I could kill you right now," he said, as Clarisse's face drained of all color until she was almost as pale as the marble stands of the arena. Nico's eyes were dark, almost _too_ dark, and his voice had sounded so terrible –

For a minute all I could hear was Rachel's frantic voice in my ear, tinny and distant through the cell phone as she insisted, _"Something terrible is going to happen, and he's the one who's going to cause it."_

And then I couldn't stay still any longer. I peeled away from the group of campers standing around them and flung myself at Nico, trying to pull his arms back without making him slip and hurt – _kill_ – Clarisse. "Nico!" I said, right into his ear as my hands clamped down on his arms. They were cold – they felt like steel. I shouldn't have worried about making him slip – his arms felt like they were locked into place. "Nico, stop!"

"No," he said, in that terrible voice and my entire body froze like it had been encased in a block of ice. "Why should I?"

I blinked, trying to believe that those words were coming out of Nico's mouth – Nico, who had been so worried yesterday about Rachel's dream and the blackouts that he'd been having for weeks. Nico, who'd been so uncomfortable at the sight of his sister's last friends eating breakfast this morning. How could he be the same person, when this Nico was standing like an onyx statue in the middle of the training arena with a three-foot blade at the hollow of Clarisse La Rue's throat?

"_Nico_," I said again, pulling at arms that still felt like steel. Gods, when had he gotten so _strong_? "Nico, it's me. It's Percy. You don't want to do this," I told him. "Put the sword _down_!"

And then, faster than anyone could blink, a silver-tipped arrow shot past just inches from Nico's nose. It seemed to finally break him out of his trance and he stumbled back, right into me. I wasn't about to waste any time – I locked my arms under his and half-dragged him away from Clarisse, having more trouble than I'd like to admit but at least succeeding in getting him a couple of feet away from the girl on the ground.

"What are you guys _doing_?" Thalia demanded, instantly garnering everyone's attention as she walked towards us with her bow still in her hand, a second arrow already nocked. "This isn't the kind of practice I remember." The rest of the Hunters stood at the entrance to the practice arena, but none of them had weapons drawn and none of them moved. They trusted their lieutenant to take care of things – and herself.

Nico stiffened in my arms, but I had a good grip on him and I wasn't letting him get away, no matter what. He looked up at Thalia with dark, hooded eyes and said, "Well a lot of stuff isn't how you remember, I bet."

"Nico!" I tugged him back a couple more steps, just in case he got any bright ideas about going attack-happy on Thalia. I wasn't sure who would win _that_ fight, but I really didn't want to find out. I just wanted him to _stop_.

"No, Thalia admitted slowly, her eyes trained on Nico. "It's not."

She stopped a couple of paces away, bending down next to Clarisse and offering her a hand up. The Ares girl swatted it away and pushed herself up out of the dust, staring at us with eyes so wide I could see the whites all around. Her hair was dusty and frizzy and she was bleeding sluggishly from a dozen tiny cuts. She scrabbled around in the dust for her spear, watching us carefully as I held Nico where we stood. When she had her weapon in hand again and was sure I still had a firm grip on Nico, she spat, "You're not helping your case any by trying to shut me up, you lying little slime."

"Clarisse!" I shouted, feeling myself bristle. Okay, so Nico had been out of line. But so was she, and she knew it.

Nico slumped in my arms, refusing to look at her – or me. He was still watching Thalia. But at least he wasn't trying to attack anyone anymore.

"Look, Clarisse – " I started to say, but she just shook her head and backed away from us.

"I'm not listening to a thing you say, Jackson. Your little boyfriend is going to kill us all. But you know what? I'm not gonna let that happen." Clarisse turned and began walking swiftly towards the exit. "I'm telling Chiron," she said.

"Wait!" I called, not wanting to let go of Nico but definitely not wanting to let Clarisse out of the arena. If she told Chiron what had happened, he'd start asking questions. And if he started asking questions, I didn't know what I would say. I didn't know what I _could_ say. _"Oh, sorry, Nico's been acting kind of weird lately but I'm sure he didn't mean to almost kill Clarisse,"_ was not going to fly and I knew it. I knew that if he started asking questions, sooner or later I'd have to tell him everything – the blackouts and the strange moods and Rachel's dreams, the whole shebang – and I knew that would force Chiron to come to a decision that maybe I just didn't want him to have to make.

But in the end, Nico made the decision for all of us. "No!" he roared, and the back of his head suddenly came hurtling towards mine and there was this _crack!_ that rang through my head as stars exploded in front of my eyes. The next thing I knew I was sitting on the ground with blood dripping down my face and all over the front of my shirt, and Nico was tearing away towards the back corner of the arena where we'd appeared earlier.

Travis Stoll went bounding after him. But even before I saw Nico disappear into the shadows, I knew he'd be gone when Travis got there to look for him.

I heard crunching footsteps approaching in the dust, and then Thalia stepped into my field of view. "Percy?" she asked, her voice much quieter as she bent down to peer at my face.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I felt utterly dazed, physically and mentally. I realized my nose was still bleeding and I tried to put a hand under it to catch the blood, but it didn't seem to matter. All that seemed to matter was that Nico had run away from me without even trying to explain – or giving me the chance to explain to him that I had just been trying to help. Killing Clarisse was _not_ something he wanted to do, no matter how mad he might have been. I'd only been trying to remind him of that.

The rest of the Hunters had parted to allow Clarisse through, and now they were milling about in the arena, though in a separate group from all the Ares and Hermes campers who were also milling about. Normally everyone would've been talking their heads off, but none of them seemed able to understand what had happened any better than I had. The Ares kids seemed angry, but they weren't yelling or trying to pick a fight. They were just muttering to one another and watching the entrance of the arena, waiting for Clarisse to come back with Chiron.

All I could do was sit in my butt on the dust, staring at the shadows where Nico had disappeared and wondering where I'd gone wrong.


	8. Ch 7: I Miss You

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 7: I Miss You**

_If I could fall into the sky  
Do you think time would pass me by?  
'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles  
If I could just see you tonight_

- A Thousand Miles (Vanessa Carlton)

Chiron and Clarisse eventually appeared at the entrance of the arena. I wasn't sure how long it had taken them to get here – honestly, I was having trouble concentrating, but it wasn't because of the crack to the head. Thalia had shoved a piece of cloth under my nose and told me to hold it there, so I did. She hadn't said anything else to me, but she hadn't left my side either. So I just sat in the dirt and held the piece of fabric to my face and stared at the shadows where Nico had disappeared.

All around me, Ares and Hermes campers were standing in groups, talking amongst themselves in voices that sounded like gibberish to my ears. I didn't care what they were saying. All I could think about was Nico. How could he just leave like that? Something had been seriously wrong with him, and now there was no way for me to find him and help him with it. I felt helpless – and let me tell you, I really hate feeling helpless. But as I sat there I just kept hearing Nico's voice, low and terrible as he stood over Clarisse, and then things would skip a bit and he would scream _"No!"_ and my mind would just sort of go blank until the flashback started up again.

But then Chiron and Clarisse arrived, and the hush that fell over the arena got my attention the way the previous level of noise hadn't. Of course, the silence didn't last long. "There he is!" Clarisse declared loudly, pointing. I actually started and looked around the arena for Nico before I realized she was pointing at me. Trying to get my head back into some semblance of order, I took a deep breath and pushed myself to my feet next to Thalia as Chiron and Clarisse approached. I pulled the rag away from my face, my hand falling limply to my side. At least it seemed like the bleeding had stopped, but now my nose felt too big for my face. I hoped it wasn't broken. It would have hurt more if it was broken, right?

The look on Chiron's face was dark and worried as he looked down at me, the slight breeze tugging at his beard just a little. "Percy," he said quietly, like he was afraid to talk to me, "what happened here?"

I swallowed.

"I told you what happened!" Clarisse said indignantly. Her face and hair were still dusty, and she was gripping her electric spear so hard her knuckles had gone white. "Jackson's _boyfriend_ went all schizo and tried to kill me!" She looked around at the other campers, who had started to gather around us, but like before they'd formed a ring like they were confined by an invisible line that nobody dared to cross. "You all saw!"

There were a couple of vague nods and murmurs of agreement, but Chiron was still looking at me. "I've heard your side of the story, Clarisse," he said calmly. "Now I'd like to hear Percy's, please."

But how was my side any different? I had to swallow again before I could talk, my throat suddenly feeling like I'd swallowed half the dust in the arena. "I'm not sure," I managed to say, vaguely proud of how normal my voice sounded. "I didn't see it start. I just saw them fighting." My eyes flicked over to Clarisse, but I was not going to let Nico take all of the blame here. "Clarisse said some pretty horrible things."

"And then he tried to tear out my throat!" she put in, waving her spear-free hand for emphasis. "Let's not forget that part!"

"I saw that part," Thalia put in, bringing Chiron's attention to rest on her. I was really glad that it wasn't on me anymore, like a huge weight was suddenly off my shoulders, though I didn't even know why. Facing Chiron didn't usually make me feel like that.

Thalia indicated the rest of the Hunters, lingering in a group near the entrance. "We were passing by when we heard the scuffle. It didn't sound like normal training so I decided to check. I saw a boy – Nico, I guess – standing over Clarisse." She glanced at me before going on. "He looked like he seriously meant to hurt her. Percy was trying to pull him off. I managed to separate them with an arrow, but when Clarisse said she was going to get you he – Nico – headbutted Percy and ran for the shadows."

"He disappeared," Travis said, chucking a thumb back at the corner. "I searched every inch of that corner. He's gone."

"He shadow traveled away," I said, bringing Chiron's attention and the weird weight back to me all over again. "I... I don't know why."

"Because all that stuff I said about him was right!" Clarisse cried righteously. "He _is_ a traitor and he knows it! He arranged the attack on Michael, and he's – "

"Stop it!" I cried, my hands balling into fists and my whole body starting to get hot. My nose throbbed in time with my heart. I couldn't stand hearing her go on about Nico like that. She didn't understand. No one did – not even, I realized, me. Maybe that's what made me angriest of all. "Just shut up! That's not true – "

"And how would you know, he's got you wrapped around his finger like a little pet dog, begging for –"

"Clarisse, Percy," Chiron said firmly, and even though he wasn't yelling I could tell by the weight of his voice that he was angry. I closed my mouth and Clarisse did the same, but both of us stood there glaring daggers at each other. I was clenching my fists so hard I wondered absently if the skin on my knuckles might break, but I couldn't get my hands to relax.

"No one is going to accuse anyone of anything until we have found Nico," Chiron said evenly, but his eyes were dark and his mouth tugged down at the corners. "Thalia, I would like you and the Hunters to help – perhaps if you split up, part of your group can finish sweeping the camp for any monsters, and the rest can locate Nico. We will assume for now that he hasn't gone far."

Of course, Nico could have gone _anywhere_ – he'd told me there was no physical limit to shadow traveling, other than the traveler's endurance. Shadow traveling wore him out, which was why he'd been practicing more often as of late. But I knew that large distances still took a lot out of him. Chiron was probably right – he might still be in camp.

"I'm going to look, too," I announced, almost before my brain caught up with my mouth.

"Right, so you can warn him off. Maybe we better keep an eye on _you_, Nancy," Clarisse said, taking a step forward.

But Chiron blocked her with one hand, his arm coming up between us. "I said there would be no accusations," he reminded her, calmly but firmly. Clarisse flushed and took a step back again, but that didn't keep her from trying to melt me on the spot with her eyes. Lucky for me, she didn't have that power. Unluckily for me, I didn't either.

"I'll go with Percy," Thalia said, so gently that I actually turned to stare at her. She was watching me calmly. I couldn't tell what she was thinking. "The more search parties, the better our chances are, after all."

Chiron nodded. "I will check the Poseidon cabin," he said, glancing at me, "though I doubt he would have gone there. Everyone meet at the Big House by sundown. I'll send messengers to the remaining groups if he's found."

"And what do we do?" Clarisse wanted to know, still looking pretty riled up. "Just go about our business like nothing happened? Maybe we should search for him too." She shifted her grip on her spear.

But Chiron, much to my relief, shook his head. "No; I think it would be best if you let the Hunters handle this," he said, neglecting to mention that I would be going with them. I saw Clarisse's nostrils flare, like she'd noticed his omission too, but she just looked at him and didn't say anything. "Why don't Ares and Hermes take the rest of the morning off. You can resume your training after lunch." He looked around the circle of campers once. "I don't need to remind you that you should keep this to yourselves until we find out the truth," he said, almost like he was silently willing them not to blow this out of proportion. The problem was, I didn't know what kind of proportion this was _supposed_ to be. After all, Nico had almost killed someone and then run off. Wasn't that a pretty big deal? It was in my book.

But gossiping wouldn't help anything, and I knew that. I just hoped the Ares and Hermes campers did, too. It wasn't a bet I would have wanted to take – after all, if Hermes' kids were good at anything, it was getting into trouble. And gossiping. I had a horrible feeling that by lunchtime, everyone in camp would know what had happened. The real question would be, how many of them would actually know the _facts_? I'd played telephone on field trips before (when I was seven, okay?) and I knew how easily things got warped as they passed from person to person.

But there was nothing I could do about that – the only thing I could do was look for Nico. I almost didn't want to find him. I mean, what was I going to say? What was _he_ going to say? Would he even be the Nico I knew, or would he be the horrible Star Trek mirror universe copy who'd knocked Clarisse into the dust and threatened to cut open her throat?

But as I waited at the edge of the arena while Thalia divided up the Hunters, sending half to finish searching for Michael's attacker and half to look for Nico, I knew it would be better if I found him than the Hunters. After all, I didn't know what they would do with him. And I didn't know what he would do to them if he was still freaked out. I mean, I didn't know what I would do when I found him either, but at least I knew that I had his best interests at heart. The Hunters might be our allies, but how could they possibly care about Nico like I did? How could anyone?

Thalia finished and sent the Hunters on their way. She beckoned to me and I followed her out of the arena, feeling kind of uncomfortable. I mean, I didn't really know why she was helping me. Sure, we were friends, but we weren't _that great_ of friends, especially when you considered the fact that she'd been dead for my first few summers at camp. We knew each other and we'd been on a quest together two years ago (the quest that had gotten Nico's sister killed, I thought), but it wasn't like we'd talked a lot since then. But Thalia was probably the reason Chiron was letting me look for Nico, and while I probably would've looked for him with or without permission, this was definitely the better option. I guessed I owed her for that.

We'd only gotten maybe ten yards into the forest before Thalia stopped and turned around to face me. I stopped too, just looking at her, my heart beating faster even though I didn't know why.

"Percy," Thalia said, her bright blue eyes looking straight into mine as she fingered the bow in her right hand, "there's something very wrong here. And there's something very wrong with that boy."

I swallowed, but she wasn't looking away and she wasn't going to let me, either. For a few seconds I thought about denying it, but I was pretty sure that wouldn't have worked. "I… I know," I said finally, miserably.

"Percy, look…" Thalia said, her eyes releasing me as she took a few steps off the barely-existent path to lean against one of the trees, "I don't know the whole story here. And I think maybe I should." She stopped, just watching me for a minute. "Would you tell me?"

I had to drop her gaze, watching my shoe scuff in the dirt almost of its own accord. I swallowed again, feeling my jaw clench and unclench. When I looked back up at her, Thalia was still watching me. "How much do you know?"

Thalia frowned slightly in thought. "Chiron told me… well, he told me Nico had been turned sixteen by Medea. That he's going to fulfill the prophecy now, most likely. And he mentioned that a lot had happened recently, and that a lot of it had to do with you, but he didn't say any more than that." She paused, her expression looking a little bit embarrassed. "And from what Clarisse said, well..." she tilted her head, now just purely curious. "Was that just Clarisse being herself, or is he actually your boyfriend?"

Well, best to answer the easy question first. I nodded absently. "He's my boyfriend," I told her. "It's... kind of a new thing. Well, new-ish. Since August." Suddenly I realized it was almost November. The weather had been unseasonably warm, possibly due to all the strange things going on with the gods, and it had been easy to forget that I was supposed to be in school right now. Everything else had just seemed so much more important.

"Ah," was all Thalia said for a moment, but it was just an expression, not approving or disapproving. It was just like someone had told her the soup of the day or that one plus one equals two. "Okay, then," she said, looking at me again, "Then I guess you really are the best one to tell me what's been going on."

Well, she was right. "A lot _has_ happened," I admitted, hearing my voice trying to make light of it and failing completely. "It's… hard to know where to start."

Thalia just shrugged. "So start at the beginning."

So I did. I started with my fifteenth birthday when Nico, scrawny and twelve and still kind of sullen had shown up on the fire escape. I told her about his confession, about how I felt, about how we'd started to get close and about how he'd died. I told her (briefly, because I felt kind of weird talking about it at all) about how I'd gone into the Underworld and gotten him back, and about how we really couldn't catch a break because not long after that Medea had gotten her slimy hands on him. I told her about MIT and the Charles River and Bunker Hill, and I told her about Luke's soul and Nico being the child of the prophecy now.

And talking to her, it was somehow… different. Maybe it was just that she had no interest in me at all – I mean, okay. Don't get me wrong. I'm not such a bigheaded jerk that I think it's all about me, but you've got to admit that I couldn't have talked to Annabeth or Rachel like this. I hadn't even really talked to Grover about it… things had just been so crazy, with Nico dying and then turning sixteen and Grover had left to find and protect any unclaimed half-bloods before Luke could get to them… I just hadn't had the time. None of us had.

But it was really nice to have someone to talk to. I mean, normally I talked to Annabeth, but she was still mad at me. And Grover was gone. And there was no way I was going to talk to my mom about it. I hadn't realized how much I'd needed to say all that stuff, just _tell someone_, until it came tumbling out of me and Thalia just stood there and listened.

I mean, she definitely reacted when I got to the part about Bunker Hill – I heard the way she took a little gasping breath when I told her about how Nico had tried to set Luke free. When I told her that Kronos had split Luke's soul in two, to keep his body alive, her hand pressed against her mouth and she blinked a couple of times, fast, but she didn't say anything and she didn't cry.

Finally I was done. I felt exhausted, somehow, and my words just ended up trailing off into silence as Thalia kept leaning against the tree watching me and I stood there under the shifting leaves and wondered what had happened, between that night at my birthday party and now, that had made Nico do what he did today.

"Wow," Thalia finally said, breaking the silence with a voice that sounded hoarse from not crying, "I guess I really did miss a lot."

I couldn't do anything but shrug a little and agree. "Yeah. I guess." Things had been pretty crazy ever since she'd left to become Artemis' first lieutenant; but then, things were always pretty crazy.

Thalia sighed, her gaze focusing just past my shoulder, like she was thinking. I wondered what she was thinking about, but something about the far-off look in her eyes gave me a pretty good idea. She was probably thinking about how things had started passing her by while she was off doing the bidding of Artemis and enjoying her newfound immortality. I mean, immortality didn't exactly equal invincibility (as we'd all seen two years ago), but it could sure get you a lot farther than just being a regular mortal or even a half-blood could. I mean, falling in battle was one thing. But to actually have the opportunity to stay the way you were for as long as you could keep yourself alive...

I remembered what it had been like on Calypso's island – time had been weird there, and if had felt like it would have been so easy for the world to just pass me by. I remembered the Lotus Casino, too, and how the rest of the world had just gone on around us while we hadn't even noticed what was going on. I thought about how Nico must feel, having spent the better part of a century there, and I thought about what all that might mean for Thalia now.

"Hey, what's it like being immortal?" The words were out of my mouth almost before I realized it. I immediately felt dumb.

Thalia glanced at me, looking a little surprised at the weird question (and who wouldn't be, what a stupid thing to ask, and _now_ of all times). When she answered, her voice was wry. "I dunno, I've only been this way for about a year and a half. Ask me again in seventy."

She shut her mouth quickly; unspoken between us hung the fact that I probably wouldn't make it another seven years, let alone seventy. Maybe I stood a better chance now than I had a couple months ago, but… not really. I remembered Nico telling me that he didn't know what he'd do if I died. Well, I didn't know what I'd do if _he_ died, either. I didn't think I was going to get another _Get Out Of Hades Free_ card. But I'd pledged myself to Nico, and if he went down in battle... well, I hadn't really thought about it explicitly, but I'd always kind of assumed that neither of us would survive the other. Maybe that was pretty morbid, but there you had it.

After a minute, Thalia shifted and looked at me again. "But you really don't know what might have prompted Nico to act so aggressively towards Clarisse?" she asked, changing the subject back to the one we were supposed to be talking about. "Other than the usual, I guess..." She gave me a small smile, and it was obvious that Thalia understood what being around a daughter of Ares could be like, even if she'd never spent much time around Clarisse.

"Well..." I paused. Because while maybe I didn't know what had _started_ it... I had this horrible sinking feeling that maybe I should have somehow seen it coming. Thalia just watched me, and the fact that she didn't say anything probably made me more willing to go on than if she had. "He hasn't been himself, lately," I admitted.

"Okay," she said, and waited for me to go on.

"He's been... I dunno. He was forgetting things, kind of. And spacing out a lot. And acting weird." I glanced into the forest, where the shadows were deeper. "I'd talked to Michael Yew about it – twice, actually. The second time was yesterday. He talked to Nico right before he was attacked."

Thalia's lips spread into a thin line as she pressed them together, but all she said was, "And Clarisse accused him of having something to do with it this morning. That's why he attacked her."

I nodded. "Pretty much." I mean, maybe I hadn't see what had started the fight, exactly, but I could guess as well as anyone else. "They... really don't get along. They never did. And now that Nico's supposed to be the half-blood of the prophecy, well..." I trailed off. Thalia could get the point.

She must have realized that I was still holding something back, because she kept looking at me and finally asked, "Is there something else?"

It took me a minute to decide whether I should just shut my mouth now or whether I should actually tell someone else what Rachel had said that night over the phone. Honestly, I'd wanted to tell Annabeth after the first few days, but I still hadn't figured out how to apologize to her. And Thalia had listened to everything else I'd said without getting riled up or angry. Maybe I could tell her this, too.

"Do you remember Rachel?" I asked. They'd never met, of course, but Thalia had been part of the quest on which I'd met Rachel for the first time, at the Hoover Dam. I'd told Thalia about the mortal girl who'd been able to see right through the Mist like it wasn't even there while we were flying to San Fancisco, thanks to Thalia's plea to her father and two animated giant bronze statues. "Rachel Dare – the mortal I told you about at the Hoover Dam?"

Thalia's brows knit, like she was trying to remember the name, but then she nodded. "Yeah. I remember you mentioning her. What does she have to do with this?"

"Well, she kinda lives in New York. And she was kinda going to the same school I was – er, well, that I was supposed to," I said, remembering again how I should've started school months ago. "We're friends now. And she... she called me in the middle of the night, a couple weeks ago. She was really freaked out, said she'd had this horrible dream about Nico killing a girl. She didn't know what it meant, and I was pretty sure that maybe it didn't mean anything at all. After all," I added quickly, "mortals don't have dreams like half-bloods do. Not even ones who can see through the Mist, right?"

"No, they don't," Thalia admitted thoughtfully. "But sometimes..." she trailed off, her features going slack for a minute. I had to wonder again what she was thinking about. She swallowed, and then looked at me again. "Sometimes mortals can have visions, sense things," was all she said. "I don't know if Rachel is one of them, or if this was one of those times, but..."

"But then I stopped it!" I said, spreading my arms a bit. "I mean, Nico _didn't_ kill Clarisse, so it didn't come true even if that was what Rachel saw, right?" I don't know why I suddenly needed so desperately to hear someone tell me that I had stopped that horrible dream from coming true, but I did.

All the same, all Thalia did was nod vaguely. "I guess so... if that's what she saw, then you did stop it." She gave me a watery smile, and pointed to the woods up ahead, which were thicker and darker as the branches crowded closer together and cut out more of the sunlight. "Let's pick up the pace; we have a lot of ground to cover before sunset."

"Yeah," I said, falling into step beside her as we started walking again. We searched in relative silence, checking behind thick stands of trees and in every shadow we could find. This, of course, gave me plenty of time to think, which mostly I didn't want. After all, there was nothing I could do right now except for find Nico, because much as I wanted to I couldn't go back and change the past and make him talk to me. All I could do was try to get through to him in the future. And I was determined to do that, because maybe it had taken me standing there and spilling everything to someone all in one go, but...

I realized that I missed Nico. It was a stupid thing to think – okay, he'd kind of run away this afternoon and some horrible stuff had happened but it wasn't the end of the world (was it?) – but there it was. I missed him. I missed the first couple of weeks we'd had _this_, when we were just hanging around my mom's apartment in the sticky air of the end of summer and learning to kiss and where to touch that would make the other groan and roll his eyes back up into his head. I missed the Nico who'd learned to grin and shove me around and I missed the Nico who slept curled up against my side at night. I missed the Nico that had somehow been replaced by this moody, frightened boy who ate in silence and didn't seem to care about what was going on and who knocked daughters of Ares into the dust and threatened to slice them open, who slammed his head into mine and raced off into the darkness without telling me where he was going. I missed the boy that I had given my life for, because right now I wasn't sure where he was. And I didn't just mean physically.

But the only thing I could do, I reasoned, was keep searching. After all, the sooner we found Nico, the sooner I could sort things out – and the sooner I could stop missing him. Right?

*

The inherent problem with my plan became obvious pretty soon – we weren't going to find Nico. I could feel the muscles in my back winding up like the gears of a clock as the sun inched lower and lower in the sky and the shadows grew until there was more dark than light between the trees. Still there was no sign of Nico, and we must have searched a fourth of the camp by ourselves. We'd even covered the entire beach where the Long Island Sound lapped at the sand. Even the sound and scent of the water couldn't calm my nerves.

Thalia looked like she was getting antsy, too. She'd slung her bow over her shoulder but her hands kept moving from her pockets to the quiver on her back to the metal bracelet on her wrist that I knew turned into Aegis, her shield. Finally Thalia glanced at the orange-streaked sky and sighed, coming to a halt and touching my arm with one hand. "We should get back to the Big House," she said, sounding defeated and unhappy with it. She glanced at me and, probably noting my expression, said, "Maybe someone else found him."

But I shook my head. "They'd send out a messenger or something." At least, I was pretty sure they wouldn't leave the search parties out if they'd found Nico. That was a better thought than what might have happened if he'd been found. I knew Chiron would be fair, but there was only so fair he could be, not knowing the details. And okay, he didn't know the details because I hadn't told him, but I still didn't know how he'd deal with the information myself and besides, I reasoned, Nico honestly hadn't wanted him to know. I'd promised not to tell Chiron unless something really went wrong. But I had been thinking all afternoon that maybe now was the time. Maybe when we got back...

Reluctantly I nodded and we headed back to the Big House. My stomach twisted in on itself more and more as we neared it, worried about what we might find, but by the time we could see the house I knew no one else had found Nico, either. There was no one on the lawn but Chiron, and the hopeful look on his face that disappeared as he saw there were only two of us told me all I needed to know.

"So you did not find him either," he said, as Thalia and I climbed the steps to the porch, where he was standing with his hands braced on the railing. When we shook our heads, he said, "Then we will have to find another way to locate him tomorrow. Perhaps the Oracle..." Chiron looked tired and defeated – as tired and defeated as I felt. After all, if Nico wasn't in camp, that could mean some pretty bad things. I mean, there was pretty much no way he would go over to Kronos... Really, there wasn't, I told myself firmly. Not after something like this. Something was wrong, yes, but it wasn't irreparable. He'd come back, or we'd find him, and we'd talk and everything would be okay.

"You two should get some dinner," Chiron said, breaking me out of my thoughts. "I've already sent the rest of the Hunters to eat – they didn't locate any monsters, either, so we can at least rest easy knowing Michael's attacker is no longer within our borders." Of course, I wasn't sure anyone actually _would_ be resting easy. After all, if it had gotten in once, it could get in again.

Thalia nodded, but even as she started back down the steps I cleared my throat a little. It was now or never – and besides, I honestly wasn't hungry. My stomach felt hollow, but I was pretty sure I would just hurl up anything I tried to eat. I was too worried. "Chiron," I said haltingly, "I wanted to talk to you. It's important."

Chiron studied my face for a moment, but then he nodded. "All right. Inside." He moved towards the door as Thalia turned to go – and almost walked into Silena Beauregard, who'd come down the path from the direction of the dining pavilion while we were talking.

"Chiron... Oh. Are you busy?" Silena asked meekly. She looked almost worse than she had yesterday – there were dark circles under her eyes that she hadn't bothered to cover with makeup and I wasn't sure she'd even brushed her hair today. Her pale skin glowed in the sunset, but it just made her look sickly rather than otherworldly or pretty.

Chiron glanced from me to her and back again. "I'm sorry, Silena. Can it wait until tomorrow?" After all, with an unknown monster that could reappear at any time and one camper (because he _was_ a camper) missing, curfew would start after dinner. It would be dangerous to be out after full dark... I felt my stomach churn again and I hoped Nico would be okay. He might be the son of Hades and he might like the dark, but that didn't mean the dark couldn't be dangerous even for him. I would just have to trust that he could keep himself out of trouble for one night. I really hoped one night was all he would be gone.

Silena bit her lip, twisting one of the silver bracelets on her wrist in her fingers. Her eyes darted around, fell on Thalia, and then on me. "I... I guess," she said. "I can come back." She turned around and started back up the hill, brushing past Thalia, who shrugged and started towards the dining pavilion once more as Chiron pulled open the screen door of the Big House and I followed him inside.


	9. Ch 8: Twist of Fate

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 8: Twist of Fate**

_For I have made her prison be  
Her every step away from me  
And this child, I would destroy  
If you try to set her free_

- My Medea (Vienna Teng)

Chiron listened to everything I had to say, his eyes dark and his mouth tugging down a little more with each word I said. I felt more and more awful over having kept this from him as I went on, and somewhere around when I started describing the way Nico had been acting after the war council yesterday I realized just how wrong I had been to not tell him sooner. The look on Chiron's face was making it clear that this was serious. I thought about the way Thalia had looked earlier, when she'd said something was really wrong with Nico, and my stomach just continued to sink as I kept talking until finally I was done.

There was a long moment of silence after I'd finished. Neither Chiron nor I moved, until finally Chiron said, "You should have come to me a long time ago." He didn't sound accusing, just... disappointed. It was almost worse than if he'd been mad.

"I know," I said, staring at the fancy lamp standing in the window so I wouldn't have to look at his face anymore. Suddenly all of my reasons for not telling him sounded awfully lame in my head. "But I thought... Nico didn't want me to tell anyone, and Michael didn't seem all that worried, and... I... I mean..."

"You thought you could take care of it yourself," he said, and his voice was gentler now. He took a few steps forward, blocking everything else from my view so I had to look up at him as he put a hand on my shoulder. "Percy, I understand why you kept silent for so long."

I swallowed. "You do?"

He nodded. "You are a very loyal boy, Percy. And you care for Nico a great deal – more than any of us had expected. But then, one does not go into the Underworld and bargain a soul back for anything less than great love."

I squirmed a little under his grasp – okay, sure, what he was saying was true. But that doesn't mean I was entirely comfortable with standing there while Chiron talked about "great love" and all that mushy stuff. Maybe that was what I felt, but come on. Just because I was in love didn't mean I had to be all squishy and poetic about it – at least, not to anyone other than Nico. (And besides, I wasn't _that_ squishy or poetic about it, even with Nico. I was pretty sure of that.)

Chiron smiled at that, just a little. But then his expression turned solemn again. "But I fear your love for him may have blinded you to warning signs, when you would have done better to pay attention to what they mean."

I blinked. "What do you mean?" In the back of my mind, I thought about Rachel's dream again. But I'd stopped that, right? So Chiron didn't need to know about it. Nico hadn't killed Clarisse. Sure, he'd run off, but we would find him. That was all that mattered, right?

"Nico is a very powerful half-blood," Chiron said, his hand falling away from my shoulder as he turned to look out the window, his hands clasped in front of him. "And he has just become possibly the most powerful half-blood alive. We cannot dismiss the fact that, while he also seems to love you a great deal, he may be having second thoughts."

I knew Chiron was talking about the fact that Nico hadn't always been all gung ho about joining our side. I knew that, like his father, he felt like an outcast and that he'd felt alone for a lot of his life. He'd been bitter about Bianca's death for a long time. I even knew what Chiron didn't – that for a second, Nico had been tempted to join Kronos back in Boston. He'd been willing to consider putting the Titan lord in power simply because it meant that his father wouldn't be in a position to do anything to _me_ when my time of judgment in the afterlife came.

But he'd refused. And he wasn't going to consider it again. "But he wouldn't go to Kronos!" I said, voicing my thoughts out loud. "I know it! He doesn't like the gods, but he doesn't like Kronos any better. I _know_ it, Chiron. He's just..."

Chiron turned again to face me. "I hope for all our sakes that you're right, Percy. But when we find him, we will have to take measures to ensure that."

"So you're going to lock him up," I said sourly, remembering a large part of why I hadn't told Chiron about all of this right away. But that was no way to force Nico to cooperate – in fact, it wouldn't even work. "Well, you can't – he can shadow travel, you know. I don't think anyone could keep him confined against his will, now that he's obviously good enough at it to get himself out of camp in one go."

Chiron's tail flicked. "I did not mean we would lock him up," he assured me. "That may be Kronos' solution, but it will not be ours." He paused, looking down at me. "But if there is something wrong with Nico, and it is clear that something _is_, then we must help him. And soon." He crouched down a bit so that he could look me in the eye. "And I'm sure I don't have to tell you that you will be a big part of that. But you will have to be honest with me – and with him."

I tried to hold Chiron's gaze, thinking about what he really meant. Because he was right – I hadn't been honest with Nico. I'd just sat and worried about him and held my tongue, and whatever was happening to him was as much my fault as it was his, or whatever was causing this change in him. If I'd spoken up sooner – even if I'd just talked to _him_ about it, instead of letting him brush my concerns off and get all cuddly every time I tried to bring it up...

I nodded. "I know," I said, my voice sounding a lot smaller than it normally did. I felt like an idiot. I felt like I'd been doing a whole lot of nothing, and telling myself that Nico would just get better on his own, that he wouldn't have wanted me to interfere. What kind of boyfriend did that make me? The only answer I could come up with was a pretty terrible one.

"And I trust you," Chiron said, reaching over to my shoulder once more to give it a quick squeeze. "So does Nico. Now," he said, motioning to the door, "why don't you get something to eat and get some rest. We will devise a new plan to search for Nico in the morning. Perhaps he will have even come back on his own." Implicit in his words was the fact that, if Nico appeared overnight in the Poseidon cabin, I would bring him to the Big House first thing in the morning. I couldn't exactly argue with that.

"Yeah," I said, turning to head for the door. I wasn't planning to get any dinner, but I could go back to the Poseidon cabin and wait. Maybe Nico would be there already, I thought. And if he wasn't, well... I could wait up for him all night.

I paused at the door, turning around just enough to say, "Chiron... I'm sorry. And thanks."

Chiron gave me a small smile, nodding slightly. "I know, Percy. Goodnight."

*

But even though I'd gone straight back to my (still empty) cabin and propped myself up in bed with the intention to wait up all night in case Nico came back, I must have nodded off sometime around midnight. I didn't dream, which I guess was a relief, but that just meant it wasn't the dreams that woke me up, sometime around three or four in the morning.

When I did wake, I felt really disoriented. There was this buzzing in my ears and the feeling that you get when you're on a rollercoaster just as you go down the first drop and your stomach tries to crawl its way up your throat. I groaned and blinked in the dark cabin, trying to figure out why I felt like crap, but then I woke up fully and I knew.

These were the sensations that told Nico that someone's soul had passed from this world into his father's realm below. I could only feel them sometimes, when someone nearby (or really important to me, I'd discovered the horrible night that Nico had died), passed on. My skin broke into a cold sweat.

_So why was I feeling like that now?_

I didn't have much time to think about it further as I realized that there was shouting outside my cabin. The voices sounded panicked, but the words were muffled by the thick walls. I stumbled over to the door and pulled it open to see that the doors of almost all the other cabins were open, too. There were flashlight beams bouncing all over, and suddenly I saw one point in my direction.

I stood, leaning against the doorframe for support as the flashlight bounded up to me. It was then that I realized the flashlight was attached to Annabeth. Even though it was hard to see her face because of the bright light shining in my eyes, I would have recognized her face and her hair anywhere.

"Silena Beauregard is missing," she said tersely. "No one knows what happened, but most of her brothers and sisters say they woke up to a muffled scream and then she just wasn't in her bed anymore. Like she'd just melted into the shadows."

My heart clenched painfully as I realized that she'd just described almost exactly what it was like when Nico shadow traveled. And I could see that she knew it too.

Suddenly I felt like I was in the middle of a nightmare. I still felt sick to my stomach, because I knew without a doubt that _someone_ was dead. I didn't know if it was Silena or Nico (oh gods, it couldn't be Nico again, I'd know, right?) or someone else entirely, but that almost didn't matter right now. The only thing that did matter was that I found Nico. _Right now._

I hadn't actually been planning on sleeping, so I was conveniently already dressed. I hadn't even taken my shoes off or Riptide out of my pocket. And so, after staring at Annabeth for a few mind-numbing seconds, I took off out the door or my cabin and stumbled into the woods.

I didn't know how I was going to find Nico, but he _had_ to be nearby – he'd never shadow traveled away from camp with me in tow because it was harder to transport two than one. Maybe I could follow the horrible sensation of death in my gut. I mean, most of me desperately hoped that when I got to wherever the tugging was leading me, Nico wouldn't be there. But it was the only lead I had to go on. And I had to find him first.

I heard Annabeth calling after me, but I just kept crashing through the woods, heedless of any monsters or harpies and not caring where I was going or who might find me. Annabeth's cries faded into the distance pretty quickly, and then I had to keep most of my concentration on the ground in the thin moonlight to keep from tripping and falling flat onto my still-sore nose. I hadn't even brought a flashlight with me, but there was no going back for it now.

I don't know how long I ran, but when I finally stumbled into the clearing I was so disoriented in the dark that I nearly tripped over them. But as I staggered to a stop I could see that there, laid out before me in the light of the waning moon, was exactly the scene Rachel had described so many weeks ago over the phone. And suddenly I really, really wished she hadn't been so uncannily _right_.

A girl lay on the ground, her limbs sprawled out like she'd tried to stop herself from falling. But she hadn't gotten up again. It was hard at first to make out her features or even her hair in the moonlight, but as I took a shaky step closer I realized, my heart sinking into my stomach, that I knew exactly who it was. It was Silena Beauregard, the head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin. And I knew without a doubt, thanks to the limited amount of Nico's power that I had running through my veins, that she was dead. Dead and gone.

Kneeling on hands and knees above the body, dark-haired and dark-clothed and pale-faced, was Nico. He looked up at me, and his expression was absolutely stricken in the moonlight. "Percy – " he choked out as he saw me, his voice strangled. "I didn't – I don't – " He stared at his hands like they weren't his.

His sword lay a few feet away in the grass, the dark blade made darker by the sticky film of blood covering it, leading in a trail back to Silena's body like Nico had flung it aside. His hands and clothes were covered in blood. I felt sick – as sick as Nico looked, as he scrambled away from the body and stared at me. His eyes were so wide that they looked like they were all pupil and no iris.

"Nico – " I whispered desperately, not even sure what I needed him – or me – to do or say. Maybe I should have been more supportive – maybe I should have rushed to his side and pulled him close. There was no way he could have done this, not the Nico staring up at me... but with the gory scene laid out before me all I could stupidly think was, _how on earth could he _not_ have_?

Apparently I wasn't the only one. I heard crashing and the bushes behind me shuddered and suddenly there was Annabeth, pulling her Yankees cap off and dropping her deactivated flashlight onto the ground with a dull thud. She gasped and Nico's eyes whipped over to focus on her, and then he looked from her to me and something changed. His eyes seemed to grow darker and his face just went blank, like a mask.

A second later Nico sprang for his sword. Annabeth's knife flashed in the moonlight and I jumped an instant after that, hurling myself between them. "What – no!" I shouted, trying desperately to get Annabeth to back away. _I_ knew something was wrong with Nico, but she didn't. Hurting him wasn't going to make it better, no matter what he'd done...

"Percy, _he killed Silena_!" Annabeth shrieked, her voice shrill and all the blood gone from her face. "She's _dead_! How can you still defend him?"

"Annabeth – Nico – just – stop!" I cried, feeling like I was being pulled in too many directions at once. _Yes_, it looked like Nico had just killed Silena, but he was seriously sick and sometimes things weren't what they seemed. What if he'd gotten bloody trying to fight off some monster? What if he'd brought her out here to talk and she'd tried to hurt him, and he'd fought back in self-defense? My mind was spinning with possibilities, each one crazier than the last but every one of them a way that made this look like anything other than the obvious. Because there had to be a way that Rachel was wrong. Hadn't I already stopped that horrible dream from happening? Then why was it happening now? How could it have possibly come true?

"Percy – !" Annabeth cried, and I turned just in time to see Nico turn and run for the treeline. His boots left wet footprints in the grass. Annabeth lunged after him again, but I caught her bodily and wouldn't let her go even as I watched Nico turn and, as he looked at us with that horrible blank mask of a face, he melted into the shadows beneath the trees. And then he was gone.

My stomach felt like it was turning to ice. And the ice felt like it was spreading, shooting through my veins until my arms and legs and hands started shaking so hard that I could barely stand. Nico had just run away again, and again there was no way I could follow him. And now I was left to deal with the consequences of something that I didn't even understand.

Annabeth slipped out of my grasp easily as my arms went numb. I felt my arms fall to my sides and I heard her calling my name, screaming at me but it sounded like she was far away. All I could hear was this noise like a jet engine roaring in my ears, drowning out every thought until even my mind was icy and numb and I was almost relieved, because if I couldn't think then I wouldn't have to deal with everything that had just happened.

But of course it couldn't last. The world slammed sharply back into focus as Annabeth slapped me hard across the face, the sound shooting through my ears as the skin of my cheek suddenly began to sting red-hot, chasing some of the ice away.

I stared at her like I was seeing her for the first time. Her hair was glowing silver in the moonlight and there were tears streaming down her face and she looked angrier than I'd ever seen her look before. "You're so stupid!" she screamed at me, but suddenly I wasn't sure if it was really me that she meant. She glanced down at the body on the ground again and her hand went to her mouth, like she had just realized who it was all over again. She turned away, taking a few steps before squatting in the grass and wrapping her arms around her knees. "Oh, gods..."

I was still feeling numb, like my brain couldn't process everything so it had decided it was safest to just shut down. But the stinging pain in my cheek kept me from shutting down completely, and now I could hear the sound of Annabeth's quiet sobs. I swallowed, my throat feeling almost too tight to breathe, and I didn't know how to deal with Annabeth or the fact that Nico had left so I did the only thing I could – I turned around and looked at Silena's body, silent and unmoving in the bloodstained grass.

She was wearing a pink cami and shorts, only now they were stained dark red-brown with blood. Her hair was a mess, flung all around her face, which lay with one cheek pressed into the grass. Somehow I didn't feel as sick as I thought I should, but maybe that was just the part of Nico that I had inside me. Or maybe I really was that numb.

I looked at the body, trying to figure out what had happened. I tried to reason out any way that this wasn't Nico's fault. And while I stood there, staring at what was left of Silena and trying to come up with any one reason that she wasn't dead by Nico's hand, I saw it.

There was something wrapped around her wrist. Though it was stained dark in places by blood, it winked in the moonlight as I walked towards the body. I crouched down and touched Silena's unmoving hand, slick with cooling blood. I didn't even feel the urge to gag or cry as I brought the lifeless fingers to my face, trying to focus on whatever had caught my attention.

It was a chain, I realized – a silver chain with a tiny silver charm hanging from it. It looked just like any one of the bracelets Silena usually wore, but I knew this one was different. The charm hanging from the chain was a tiny silver scythe: the symbol of Kronos.

I tried to swallow, but my mouth had gone suddenly dry. I stared at the charm until it felt like the image had been burned into my eyes. Finally I dropped her hand, the chain jingling quietly as Silena's lifeless arm thumped into the grass. The world seemed to spin around me until I felt like I would fall over, but this time it wasn't with dread – it was with an overwhelming sense of guilty relief.

_Silena Beauregard was the spy._ She'd been the camper working for Kronos – she was the one who had helped his forces during the Battle of the Labyrinth, and who'd told him about the plans to help us at Bunker Hill. She was the one who'd betrayed us. Somehow he'd gotten her under his power, and he'd manipulated her into working for him.

And somehow, Nico had caught her – and stopped her. He was innocent – _he had to be_. He might have killed her, but he'd saved all of us in doing so. He was a hero.

I was just staggering to my feet when the trees in front of Annabeth rustled and Thalia burst into the clearing, followed by four Hunters. All of them had their bows drawn. The arrows seemed to glow softly in the moonlight. Thalia looked from Annabeth to me, and then at the body on the ground. Slowly, she lowered her bow; the other Hunters followed suit, but they spread out along the edges of the clearing like they were setting up a perimeter, just in case. I didn't tell them, but they hadn't needed to do that. I was pretty sure that, given the way things looked, Nico wouldn't be coming back. At least, not tonight.

_But maybe soon_, I thought. Once I cleared his name... he could come back. I'd find him somehow, and bring him back. It would be okay again.

"What happened here?" Thalia asked haltingly, looking at Silena's body. "This... this is Silena, isn't it?"

Annabeth, who'd stood up when the Hunters arrived, spoke first. "It was Nico," she said, and her voice was raw but it still managed to sound scathing. "He – "

But I couldn't let her finish. I had to tell them the truth. "He found out she was spying for Kronos," I said decisively, "and he must have killed her before she could do it again."

Both Annabeth and Thalia stared at me, their eyes wide and bright in the moonlight. "_What_?" Annabeth demanded, her voice barely above a whisper. "Percy, what are you saying?"

I pointed to Silena's wrist. "The chain – it's a charm bracelet. I think she's been wearing it for a while now. The charm is a scythe. The symbol of Kronos." There was no way she would have worn that mistakenly, and it certainly wasn't fashionable to wear old-school farming equipment on your bracelets. Even I knew that much. Silena might have looked like an airheaded model, but she wasn't stupid. I didn't know how Kronos had swayed her to his cause, but the fact was that he _had_.

Thalia knelt beside the body, touching the bracelet with one hand. After a minute she nodded, looking up at me. "You're right. It is a scythe."

"What?" Annabeth said again, like she couldn't understand what was going on. "Silena was the spy?"

"She must have been," I reasoned. "And Nico must have found out. He must have brought her here to confront her."

Annabeth looked like she was going to be sick all over again. Her eyes were puffy and red, and her face was still pale as she stared at the body in the grass. Then she looked at me and for a minute her eyes looked so lost, so remorseful, that I wanted to go to her and hug her. I mean, I might be dating Nico, but Annabeth was one of my best friends. And right now she looked like she really needed me to be there for her. It made my heart hurt the way it had hurt that night on my birthday, when Nico had shown up and looked at the cake on my dresser like he'd never had it before in his life. Maybe he hadn't. I'd never asked.

But then Annabeth shook her head like she was clearing it, and she ran a hand over her face. When she looked at me again the old, confident Annabeth was back. She turned to Thalia, who was watching the both of us, and said, in a voice that only shook a little, "We should bring the body back to Chiron. He'll want to know what happened."

How we managed to get Silena's body back to the Big House without running into any other campers I'll never know. Maybe the gods really were on our side, for once. All I do know is that I'll never forget the look on Chiron's face when he saw what the Hunters were carrying, slung between their arms. They laid her body on the porch at Chiron's feet, and I realized it was up to me to tell him what had happened.

I honestly don't know how I kept talking – it was like my mouth wasn't connected to my brain anymore, because my brain had just kind of shut down. I told him everything as objectively as I could, from waking up with death ringing in my ears to finding Silena and Nico, to Nico scrambling away in the shadows and me finding the scythe charm on Silena's bracelet. I explained how she must have been the spy, and how Nico was innocent, how he'd saved us all.

Chiron listened to it all without a word, and he didn't take his eyes off Silena's body. Thalia and Annabeth were silent behind me, and the other four Hunters could have disappeared for all I knew. When I finished there was silence for a long time, heavy like a blanket weighing down on all of us until I felt like I might suffocate. Finally, Chiron turned away from the body and asked us all to follow him.

He led us down to the cabins, where campers were still wide away and light from open doors flooded into the little courtyard around which the cabins stood. Chiron called everyone out into the center. All around us campers shifted restlessly, and in the seconds before he spoke I found myself wondering what Chiron could possibly say.

I almost didn't want him to tell anyone that Silena had been a spy. I mean, of course I was angry and hurt and I was having a hard time figuring out how Kronos could have convinced her to work for him against us. But now she was dead and her actions couldn't hurt us anymore. Was it really fair to those people who'd cared about her, to tell them that she'd been stabbing them in the back for months? Most of the campers didn't know there had been a spy in the first place – only the heads of each cabin knew. It had been safer that way.

But if Chiron didn't tell anyone about Silena, Nico looked like a cold-blooded murderer and he wasn't. Was it better to implicate Silena, who was now dead with no reputation to uphold, or Nico, who was alive and still out there and who would need the support of Camp Half-Blood if we were going to win this battle? I was suddenly really, really glad I wasn't the one who was going to have to speak. I really had no idea what Chiron could do to make things okay.

But somehow, when he spoke, he did. "Campers," he said, and his voice was grave and quiet, "it is my sad duty to inform you that Silena Beauregard has fallen in battle."

There were a couple of gasps and sobs from the Aphrodite kids; I couldn't blame them. I half-expected Clarisse to shout out something about Nico, but even she was shocked into silence. Charles Beckendorf just stood there like a statue and blinked, his face utterly blank as Chiron went on. "Silena lost her life in the fight against Kronos, but in doing so she has protected all of you."

I guessed that was true. Now that Silena was dead, Kronos no longer had eyes and ears in Camp Half-Blood. She had, in a way, given her life to save us. I just wished it hadn't had to happen like that.

Just beneath Chiron's words I could hear a message to Thalia, Annabeth, and myself: _You are the only ones who know the truth. And it should stay that way._ I found that I had no argument at all with that. But I _was_ worried about what that would mean for Nico.

But Chiron wasn't done yet. "I also wish to make it absolutely clear that Nico di Angelo is in no way to be implicated in her death. I know that many of you still have your doubts about him, but fate rarely makes things easy on us and I know that each of you understands this perfectly. I would ask you to remember this: Nico can only be as strong as those who stand behind him. And every time we doubt ourselves, we make Kronos that much stronger." Chiron paused, his eyes sweeping over each and every camper. "We will hold a funeral for Silena in the morning. I would ask that you all go back to your cabins and try to get some rest. I have a feeling we will need it in the days to come."

Honestly, it was the best I could have asked for. Nico's name had been cleared, and while maybe only a few of us would know how much of a hero he really was, I was okay with that. I thought that he probably would be, too. If only he would come _back_.

As Chiron turned and started back up the hill, I expected everyone to explode into a frenzy – accusations, anger, sorrow, maybe even more questions about Silena or Nico. But in the wake of Chiron's speech, everyone seemed to have become as numb as I felt. Everyone began to disperse to their respective cabins slowly, like they were sleepwalking. There wasn't much talking, though I could still hear a few muffled sobs coming from the direction of the Aphrodite cabin.

I looked around for Thalia and Annabeth, but they were heading back to their own cabins. I found my feet taking me back to the Poseidon cabin, which felt too big and empty as I closed the door behind me, finding my way back to my bed in the dark. Now that I was alone again, the hole where Nico had been just this morning seemed wider than ever, and more painful. The numbness in my mind helped a little, though, and I mostly felt like I just wanted to go to sleep and not wake up until things were normal again.

But things are never really normal for a half-blood.

I hadn't been present for Nico's funeral pyre, and now I had to admit that I was almost glad for it. Seeing a big, tough guy like Beckendorf break down as he lit the fire beneath Silena's body the next morning hit me like a punch in the stomach. I felt like I could barely stay on my feet as I stood with all of the other campers in the arena and the flames of Silena Beauregard's funeral pyre licked the sky, devouring her hot pink burial shroud and any last traces of the link Kronos had with Camp Half-Blood. I prayed to any god that would listen that it would be the last traitor we'd ever have to burn, because turning on the gods was one thing, but turning on your friends – your family – was another.

Maybe that was part of why I felt so anxious about how Nico had left. I knew that he'd felt abandoned by almost everyone he'd ever cared about, and I was lucky because I had never had to go through anything like that. On some level I knew that maybe I never would really understand what he'd felt like. But all I could think about now was how that didn't matter anymore. I just wanted him back, so I could show him how important family could be. I wanted to prove to him that not everyone left and not everyone turned on you in the end. That morning, watching Charles Beckendorf's face through the flames, I felt like even if Nico _had_ turned to Kronos, it wouldn't matter. I would stand by him, because he was Nico and I was never going to leave him.

That thought scared me. It scared me a lot. I shoved it away almost as soon as I'd thought it, but I couldn't take it back. It followed me around all day, as campers went through the motions of their normal routines even though there was no heart in it. By lunchtime Chiron called the rest of the day off, and I wasn't sure if that was better or worse. All I knew was that free time would give me more time to think about Nico, and I couldn't bear that. And when I went to the arena in the afternoon to try and work myself into exhaustion so that maybe I could sleep through the night, I found that I wasn't the only one who'd decided physical exertion was better than thinking about what had happened.

Even Clarisse, for all that she gave me the evil eye, didn't say anything. It was actually kind of nice – just a bunch of kids trying to work through their frustrations and sorrow, no one asking what anyone else was thinking about. No one cared if you didn't normally get along, if you hated each other or if you were best friends. We all just put everything we had into training, into stabbing and thrusting and parrying and ducking, and all anyone could hope for was that if we pushed our bodies to their absolute limit, there would be no energy left to deal with anything else. And the best part was, it worked – because when I fell into bed that night after a dinner I hadn't even tasted, the darkness closed in around me and sleep took over before my worries could.


	10. Ch 9: Not Over You

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 9: Not Over You**

_In my daydreams, in my sleep,  
infatuation turning into disease.  
You could cure me,  
see all you have to do now is please try.  
Give it your best shot and try.  
All I'm asking for is love,  
but you never seem to have enough._

- All Over You (The Spill Canvas)

But I couldn't sleep away my worries forever. The next morning they were back. And Nico wasn't. Worst of all, I didn't know of any way to locate him and all my attempts to IM him just sputtered away into static, leaving me staring at the spray of the saltwater fountain in the corner of my cabin with nothing to show for it. Either Nico was somewhere that he couldn't be contacted, or he was somehow ignoring my calls. I really didn't like either of those options.

My mind kept replaying the events of the night he left – the night Silena had died – over and over. In my mind, I saw his face change, morphing from horrified to numb. I watched his eyes cloud over as he lunged at Annabeth, as I tried to hold her back and he turned and ran, disappearing into the shadows like he belonged more to them than the living world of light. And I was not okay with how things had ended.

There had to be a reason for everything – a reason that Silena was dead, some way that Nico had found out she was a traitor and stopped her from doing something horrible. There had to be some reason he'd turned into a shadow of the Nico I knew and ran. I just didn't know what it could be. All I did know was that I needed him to come back. I needed to know he was okay.

But Nico didn't come back. And why should he, I realized, when he thought that _I_ thought he was a murderer? I should have tried to talk to him in the forest that night – I shouldn't have just stood there, shocked, while he looked up at me like he had, lost and afraid. I had failed him, I was sure of it. I trudged to breakfast that morning feeling like my feet were made of lead, and even though I knew my stomach was empty the thought of actually eating anything made me feel like I was going to hurl. I couldn't even bring myself to murmur my usual plea to the gods as I scraped a piece of partially-burnt toast into the brazier. All I could do was force my lips to move to fashion something that hopefully sounded enough like, "For the gods."

The Hunters were eating breakfast at the Artemis table, but I knew it was only a matter of time before Chiron sent them after Nico. After all, I wasn't the only one who needed to talk to him. One camper was dead and even if Chiron had insisted that Nico had nothing to do with it, he knew better. So did Thalia and Annabeth and I. And this was something that wasn't going to go away until there were answers. I watched the girls at the Artemis table eating, and I wondered if Thalia would let me come with them. I wondered if I could follow them if she said no.

I could hear the quiet hum of conversation all around the dining pavilion as I sat. No one was talking about Nico – at least not within earshot of me. But I knew he was on everyone's mind. Even if no one else knew the truth, I knew how people still felt about him. It hadn't just been Clarisse who'd questioned his loyalty or his ability to lead us into battle. Maybe she'd been the loudest voice, but I knew she hadn't been the only one.

I just wished everyone could have cut him a break. Maybe then he wouldn't have felt so alone – maybe then he could have come forward with whatever he knew about Silena and we could have dealt with it together. Maybe she wouldn't have had to die – and maybe, even if she had, her blood wouldn't have been on Nico's hands. Part of me hated Silena for what had happened. Maybe we should have just left her to rot, for making Nico her scapegoat and pushing him so far that he had killed her – and nearly killed Clarisse (because that's what _had_ to have happened, it all made sense now, right?). But I couldn't hate her very much. Traitor or not, she _had_ been my friend (at least in passing) and I'd rather have watched her burn on a funeral pyre than picked to pieces by whatever lived in the woods. But still, something about it just wasn't fair. I guessed nothing ever really was, especially not for half-bloods. And not for children of the Big Three, especially.

All I knew was that I'd never felt more alone in my life. Maybe that was why I found myself at the open door of the Athena cabin just before dinner that same day, peering past the doorframe and into the dim interior. I wasn't sure if it was luck or something else, but inside the cabin I could see Annabeth alone at one of the many drafting tables, hunched over her computer. The big blue Δ symbol on the front glowed softly in the darkened cabin. Her eyes flicked over to the door as my shadow blocked the light. She didn't act very surprised to see me, even though I'd been kind of avoiding her just as much as she'd been avoiding me ever since she'd stormed out of my cabin in the middle of the night. (Well, that night when we'd found Nico and Silena's body notwithstanding. But I hadn't talked to Annabeth again since then.)

But there were only so many ways to avoid someone when you both lived in the same camp for half-blooded kids of the Ancient Greek gods. And honestly, I didn't like avoiding Annabeth under normal circumstances – not when she was one of my best friends and there was a war that was no longer looming on the horizon but practically rolling in with the morning fog. And now, with everything that had happened... With Nico and Grover gone, she was really the only person I had left in camp that I felt I could talk to. And I really, really needed to talk. I might have spilled a whole lot about the past few weeks to Chiron just two days ago, but it hadn't been the same as talking to a friend.

All that aside, there was just something about not being on actual speaking terms with Annabeth that threw my entire world off just a little. And right now I needed every little bit I could get – and so, I suspected, did she. I remembered how she reacted to Silena's body and how she'd screamed at me after Nico had disappeared. Maybe I hadn't realized it at the time, but that had been one of the worse moments in my life. And there have been a lot of bad moments, trust me.

"Hey," I said, almost cringing at how hollow and lame my voice sounded. Annabeth didn't say anything back, but at least that meant she hadn't told me to go step on a javelin, either. But now she was watching me, waiting for me to go on. So I said, "Can I come in?"

Annabeth watched me warily for another minute, but eventually she nodded. I took a few tentative steps into the cabin as her eyes flicked back to the computer screen, valiantly half-ignoring me. I got a few more steps into the cabin before she finally spoke, addressing the computer screen in front of her. "What do you want, Seaweed Brain?" Her voice was soft and even though she wasn't looking at me, she didn't sound all that mad. That almost made me feel worse, somehow. At least if she'd been mad, not talking to her for so long would've seemed more worth it, somehow. As it was, I just felt kind of stupid.

"I… uh. I wanted to talk to you."

She looked back up at me, her grey eyes darker than usual in the shadows at the back of the cabin. I couldn't really read her expression, but I was hoping that since she wasn't ranting and angry, maybe I stood a chance of making things okay with her. But that meant I had to say something. "Annabeth, I..." But I almost didn't know where to start. There was so much of it – maybe my brain really _was_ filled with kelp. It felt an awful lot like it right now.

Well, I guessed I could start with an apology. "I'm sorry," I said, because it this whole thing hadn't really been Annabeth's fault and we both knew it. I just had to be man enough to say it – because that's what I was, right? How could I be a hero – how could I support a hero – if I couldn't say those words? Mom had always said that it took more courage to say you were wrong than it did to lift a weapon.

Annabeth's eyes were still dark as she said, "Do you even know what you're apologizing for?" Her hands came to a stop on the keyboard, but she didn't close the lid and the pale blue glow still illuminated her features, making her look otherworldly.

Honestly, that wasn't really the response I'd been expecting. I blinked helplessly for a minute, my mouth opening and closing before I managed to say, "For not telling you what Rachel said, that night. I should have – "

But now Annabeth was shaking her head, her eyes sliding away from me. I admit, I was kind of lost. Wasn't that what she had been mad at me about? I knew she didn't like Rachel (the feeling seemed somewhat mutual) and I knew now that I should have just told Annabeth what was up instead of trying to keep it secret. After all, maybe she wouldn't have run to Chiron – maybe, I thought with a sinking stomach, she would have been able to help. But it was too late for that now. All I could do was try to figure out what was wrong and try to fix it. But now I just plain didn't understand. What did Annabeth mean?

"I shouldn't have to tell you," Annabeth said, as though she could read my mind. Now there was some anger starting to creep into her voice. "I shouldn't have to explain it to you, Percy. But that's just typical," she went on, with a strange sounding sort of half-laugh. "You never get anything unless I bash you over the head with it, do you?"

I wasn't really sure what the appropriate response to that was, or even if I was actually supposed to answer her. I apparently settled for something that sounded a lot like, "Uh..."

Annabeth looked at me again, her arms crossing over her chest. "You don't even realize it, do you?" she huffed. "_So_ typical," she said, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. She pushed herself off the stool, marching around the table to put it at her back so she was standing only a couple of steps away from me. She put her hands on her hips and glared at me in a move that was just so very _Annabeth_.

And honestly, it might be horrible to say this, but this was part of the reason that I'd been so attracted to Nico in the first place. I could still remember my birthday (it hadn't been that long ago, really), when he'd asked me if he should tell someone he liked them, even if he wasn't sure what the other person thought. As I'd considered the answer I was going to give him, it had led me to think about Annabeth and Rachel and everything I'd been through with them over the summer – the way they'd just look at me and talk to me like the way Annabeth was looking at me now, like there was some big glaring sign that I just wasn't seeing, and I was so stupid and how could I not understand?

That had been the difference between Nico and Annabeth (because Rachel I wasn't sure about, that had been kind of tangled up in other stuff that didn't really apply here). But Annabeth... Annabeth treated me like an idiot sometimes, expected me to figure things out on my own with little to no clues and sometimes I just couldn't do it. If Annabeth had liked me so much, all she had to do was tell me. But instead it had been Nico who'd told me, even though he was afraid that I would hate him for it. And instead of hating him or being disgusted I'd realized in that moment that _that_ was all I wanted – I just wanted someone to be clear with me, to tell me what was on their mind because how else was I supposed to know? I wasn't a mind-reader, and sometimes I think maybe Annabeth wanted me to be one.

Right now was definitely one of those times. Because obviously I'd done something a whole lot bigger than just withhold one phone conversation from her, and I just didn't know what it was. But I had a feeling that maybe this time she was going to tell me.

I didn't have to wait long to find out. "Gods, you really are dumb, Percy!" she exploded, throwing her hands up in disgust or exasperation. "Yes, of course I'm mad you didn't want to tell me what Rachel said. But I can respect your privacy. That was only the last straw – do you _realize_ how you've been acting ever since you came back to camp? Do you realize how it makes me feel?"

I thought hard. How had I been acting? And why would it make Annabeth mad? "I... uh... I know I've been hanging out with Nico a lot," I hazarded. After all, that was the only big difference that I could think of. Was that what had been bothering Annabeth? But she'd told me she understood. "But you said you were okay – "

"Yeah? Well, I lied," Annabeth cut me off. She stalked up to me, staring right up into my face. "I still like you, Percy. I like you a lot. And _yes_, I'm okay with just being your friend – or, at least, I'm trying to be. But lately you haven't been _my_ friend, or anyone's friend at all. You've been Nico's devoted little worshipper and it makes me feel like crap. I bet if Grover was here, he'd feel the same way. I guess I'm almost glad he's not; maybe you should be, too."

She stopped and let that sink in for a minute, which I admit it did take for me to fully process all of the words she'd just said. Because okay, she still liked me – I guessed that was pretty awkward but it was what it was. People couldn't just turn their feelings off, right? And she seemed to be dealing with it pretty well. I mean, I was still dealing with it a little too. I had been kind of attracted to Annabeth, after all. I couldn't deny that, even if it just wasn't an issue for me anymore. But then there was the part about me being a jerk to my friends because of Nico and –

And, I realized with a jolt of dismay, that _she was right_. I thought back to the first time I'd seen Annabeth after I'd started seeing Nico and even though I hadn't thought about it at the time, it was obvious now how I'd kind of brushed her off. And it was obvious again as I thought about leaving to go on the quest to find the Oracle in Rising Star, Texas, and obvious again when I had disregarded everything everyone had said and gone down into the Underworld to bargain for Nico back.

In fact, it kept being obvious the more I thought about it. I'd begun to shut her out of my life, little by little, as I spent more time with Nico and less with anybody else. I wasn't so sure about the "devoted worshipper" bit, but even I could admit that Nico was all I thought about most of the time, especially when I was worried about him. (Like right now). And now that I realized that, I realized that it wasn't fair to a friend as good as Annabeth. It was suddenly so much easier to see that now, with Nico gone and me left with the giant gaping hole where he'd been. The hole was giant and gaping because I'd ignored all of the friends who had used to fill it. And maybe they could never fill it quite the same way again, but that didn't mean they weren't a part of what made me whole anymore.

Annabeth seemed to notice that what she'd said had finally started to spark some sort of recognition (and guilt) in my mind. She lowered her voice as she spoke again, and she said, "I know the only reason you're here now is because he's _not_."

And even though she hadn't sounded angry at all that time, that sentence struck me harder than anything she'd said before. Because it was _true_, down to every last word. I felt alone because Nico was gone, when really I couldn't possibly be alone because Annabeth was standing right in front of me. She wasn't my girlfriend (or rather, boyfriend – you know what I mean), but she _was_ my friend, and that was just as important. I might love Nico like he was my own heart but I loved Annabeth too, just in a different way. We'd fought together and almost died together and yeah, we didn't always get along and maybe she treated me like an idiot sometimes, but right now I had to admit that maybe I deserved it – at least sometimes.

Now I knew what she really wanted me to apologize for. And I did have to admit that I wished she hadn't had to point it out to me, after all. "Annabeth..." I breathed, because it was actually a little hard to talk, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't... I didn't realize."

"No," she said, wiping at her nose a little, "you didn't. Seaweed Brain"

I realized that her eyes were a little too bright, even in the dim light in the cabin. And I felt like the world's biggest Grade A idiot. Before I really knew what I was doing, I reached out and pulled her into a hug, just holding her close because she was my _friend_ and I honestly didn't have enough words to tell her I was sorry. As I held her, I vowed silently that when Nico came back (because he _would_, he _had_ to), I would make time for all of my friends. Nico was the center of my world, but he didn't have to eclipse everything that was important to me just so I could show him that. I would make sure he knew how I felt, and we would move on. My friends could be his friends, because he'd never had a lot of friends but there was no reason for that now. Things would get better. They had to.

"I promise to stop acting like a jerk," I said after a minute. "Nico's always going to be important to me, but so are you." And it was about time I told her that. "I just want you to be okay with this."

"I'm trying," she said, her voice a little muffled by my shoulder. "But Percy," she said almost hesitantly, pushing away to look up into my face, "Nico's not the same person he was when we met him. He's changed a lot – especially since the whole... you know. Medea thing."

And that was the crux of the matter, the reason I'd come seeking Annabeth's company (and wisdom) in the first place. "I know," I said. "I _know_, and I just want to help him but I don't know _how_."

"Percy," Annabeth said, reaching out and taking my hand. "I don't know Nico as well as you do – no one here does. But he _killed Silena_. You know it as well as I do. And traitor or not..." She trailed off.

"Something was – _is_ – really wrong with him, Annabeth," I insisted. "And I didn't see it in time, and now he's gone..." I felt a lump of guilt well up in my throat, and I had to stop talking for a minute. I felt dumb all over again, dumping this on Annabeth when she'd just told me that she still liked me. It felt like rubbing salt in an open wound and I knew I didn't have the right to come to Annabeth with this, not when she'd just said what she had. But I just didn't know who else to go to, and if I didn't say something soon I felt like I might explode.

I looked at the wall of the cabin, not able to look at Annabeth anymore as I said, feeling choked, "What if he doesn't come back?"

The Hunters were still prowling the camp, but I didn't know how much longer that would last. I was sure that if Nico didn't turn up soon, the Hunters wouldn't be able to hold off searching for him much longer. In fact, I wasn't sure how much longer _I_ could sit around and do nothing. I could only sit around and wait for him to come back to me for so long, and that time was running thin. Even though I didn't have any better idea how to find Nico than I had that morning, I also knew that I wasn't going to let the Hunters get to him first. Maybe I'd done a crappy job of dealing with the situation the last time I'd seen him, but I swore to myself (and him) that I wouldn't make the same mistake again.

Annabeth opened her mouth, but for a minute nothing came out. After all, how could she tell me he'd come back? She didn't know the answer any more than I did. Finally she asked, "He never said anything to you about Silena?"

I shook my head. "No. We really didn't... talk all that much lately," I admitted, frowning and glancing at the wall rather than Annabeth's face as I felt mine start to get hot. It sounded a whole lot worse when I admitted it out loud.

When I glanced back over Annabeth was frowning too, but it was more from concern than disapproval. "Really? Because he sure grabbed you and carted you off enough... Oh." She blinked. "Were you really... uh... y'know, the whole time?" Now it was Annabeth's turn to start turning pink and I coughed, pulling my arm gently away from her grasp.

"Not the _whole_ time," I assured her quickly. "But it's just that every time I tried to talk to him about anything – the prophecy or whatever – he would change the subject and then... yeah." If there was one thing Nico had not been lacking lately, it was a sex drive. I hadn't exactly been complaining, but it really hadn't made it any easier to talk to him about stuff when all he wanted to do was make out. It was a lot easier to see that in retrospect. Really, I hadn't exactly been trying to get him to talk as much as I probably should have. And that thought brought me around again to the pile of guilt that only seemed to be growing with each passing second.

"Percy, that can't be healthy," Annabeth said, moving away a little as I embarrassedly started to shuffle my feet a little. "For either of you," she added, and as I watched her I saw something in her eyes that was unfamiliar for a minute until I realized that it was pity. "I realize he was never very talkative, but... Percy," she said slowly, "are you really sure that you...?"

I knew what she was asking, and I hated that she had to ask it probably as much as she did. "Of course," I said firmly, feeling my heart twinge just a little even though I was not lying. "Annabeth, I love him."

For a minute I was tempted to tell her all of it – about the way I'd felt when he'd died and I'd gone after him, about the way I'd felt at the funeral pyre, about the pull in my stomach and how I knew, just _knew_, that I would never let him go. I almost told her how I knew in my heart that I would follow Nico to Kronos' side and back again, if it came to that.

That thought sobered me just as it had the first time, making my stomach cold but strengthening my resolve all at once. After all, wasn't loyalty supposed to be my fatal flaw? But was that what this was? How could I ever choose to give Nico up – to _give up_ on Nico?

In the end, I couldn't bring myself to say it after all. Not after everything Annabeth had said. Even if it hadn't sounded horrible and traitorous (and maybe it was, not that Nico _had_ gone to the Titan's side, mind you, but still), I just couldn't say it right now.

I swallowed. "I really, really love him," I repeated to her, so quietly that I could barely hear the words myself. But they were enough.

Annabeth nodded. "I know," she said. "So if you want help... you know, figuring this out and helping him and everything... I will."

I couldn't help but smile at that. After all, here was Annabeth, right on the tail of telling me I was an idiot because I hadn't been respecting her at all lately and she was still offering to help me save the boy I loved. I couldn't have asked for a better friend in the world, and she had to know it way before I did.

"I'd... really appreciate that," I said, and I meant it.


	11. Ch 10: Not Alone

**The Ties That Bind**

Chapter 10: Not Alone

_And when your hope crashes down  
Shattering to the ground, you feel all alone  
When you don't know which way to go  
And there's no signs leading you home, you're not alone_

- Gift of a Friend (Demi Lovato)

Annabeth and I talked until the conch shell sounded for dinner, and afterwards we sat side-by-side at the decidedly less-than-cheerful bonfire singalong until everyone but a few Hermes campers had left. But the problem with figuring out how to help Nico hinged on one key thing: we needed to figure out where Nico _was_, first.

The problem was, I had no idea where he could have gone. He had no living family left that he knew of, and he'd had no luck figuring out who his mother had been. Honestly, he had no real _home_ – when I'd first met him he had been at a boarding school in Maine, and before that he'd been at the Lotus Casino in Vegas. Bianca had mentioned that she remembered living in Washinton, D.C., but none of those places would be _home_ enough for Nico to return to them. Would they? He'd never talked about them at all, and it had honestly been my impression that he'd wanted to forget all about them. It didn't make sense that he'd return to any of them now.

The only two places that I thought Nico might consider home by now were my mom's apartment in Manhattan and Camp Half-Blood, but obviously he wasn't in either of those places. I was pretty sure the Hunters would have at least found him (or where he'd been) if he was lurking around camp, and I had IM'd my mother earlier today to check if she'd seen anything. I supposed I hadn't exactly explained to her the fact that Nico was now sixteen, but I'm pretty sure my mom would've noticed a strange sixteen year-old kid skulking around her apartment even if she hadn't known it was Nico.

So that left us with no starting point for a plan, which meant we were pretty much nowhere by the time the flames started burning low and the constellations had come out overhead, twinkling in the smoky air.

"Percy, there is one place we haven't considered," Annabeth said quietly, leaning over so close that her face nearly blocked out the fire. "What if he's gone back to the Underworld?"

My stomach turned cold at the question. I remembered receiving Iris messages of Nico (twelve, then) camped out by the Styx last summer, but when I thought about it I couldn't imagine him going back there now. Too much had happened in the Underworld since then – he'd died, _I'd_ died, and above all there was the small matter that his dad kind of ran the place. Maybe Hades hadn't noticed a twelve year-old Nico hanging around in his backyard, but I was pretty sure he'd notice a sixteen year-old one. And I knew for a fact that Nico wouldn't want to deal with him.

"I don't think so," I said slowly, shaking my head. "I don't think he likes it down there any more than the rest of us."

"Maybe," Annabeth hummed, biting her lip. When she glanced up at me her grey eyes reflected brightly in the firelight. "But it is the one place none of us would follow him."

I frowned. "I would," I said. And I meant it – even if going back to the Underworld really was not high on a list of things I'd like to do, oh, ever. But while I knew that I could get there (I could use the entrance at the bottom of the ocean Persephone had told me about), I'd already been to the Underworld twice – and although I'd made it back alive both times, neither excursion had been exactly easy, not to mention pleasant. And I knew for a fact that Nico was pretty keen on me never meeting his father again; whether that was a likely scenario or not, I was pretty much in agreement with him. Hades pretty much hated my guts, and I really had no idea what would happen to me the next time I saw him. My best guess was that it would probably be something extremely unpleasant.

But for Nico, I would do it. Of course, that was assuming he even was down there – which we didn't know. Annabeth didn't really seem to like my answer either way. She put one hand on my arm, looking at me in a way that said she was pretty sure we were on the same page about my chances of finding Nico and getting out if he _was_ in the Underworld.

I didn't like them any better than she did. "There has to be a way to _find_ him," I muttered in frustration, clenching one fist against the thigh of my jeans.

"Well, if your Iris messages aren't going through..." Annabeth sighed, then looked up at the stars like she just realized night had fallen. "Look, I'm really beat. I bet you are, too. Why don't we pick this back up in the morning? I hate to say it, but maybe some sleep will help give us a fresh perspective." I knew that Annabeth didn't like going to bed with problems half (or, in this case, not) solved, but I guessed that when you hit a wall, you hit a wall.

But I didn't want to call it quits, either. "What about the Hunters?" I murmured, worried about the one thing that could throw a wrench in my whole plan: someone else finding Nico first. Chiron had called the Hunters to meet with him in the Big House after dinner, and I was pretty sure they were probably talking about when they'd leave to find Nico. I couldn't let that happen – at least, not without me.

"The Hunters are leaving first thing in the morning."

Annabeth and I both jumped as a voice sounded from behind us. We twisted on the log where we were sitting to see Thalia standing there, her bow slung across her back and her hands on her hips. The firelight reflected strangely on her silvery jacket, making the fabric seem to glow and shift. "Chiron said you two were probably still here." She glanced at the few remaining campers, saying, "Curfew's pretty soon. How about I walk you back?"

It wasn't really a request – it was obvious that Thalia wanted to talk to us, just without anyone else overhearing (accidentally or not, you never knew with Hermes kids). Annabeth and I pushed ourselves up off the log we were sitting on and followed Thalia back down the path towards the cabins. The night was cool – finally, some real fall weather – and I realized it was really pretty crisp out now that I wasn't sitting next to a roaring fire.

"So you're leaving," Annabeth said quietly, glancing at me as we started walking in the dark. "Chiron is sending you to find Nico?"

Thalia nodded. "If we can. He's not necessarily in trouble, but..." She trailed off. Silena's stature with the enemy notwithstanding, Nico had still murdered a camper and he'd openly threatened another. Of course Chiron wanted to talk to him. _I_ wanted to talk to him. And after everything I'd told her the morning Nico had disappeared the first time, I was pretty sure I knew why Thalia was telling us about the Hunters' pending departure.

"I'm coming with you," I said, with all of the conviction I could muster with my arms wrapped around myself to fight off the chill in the air. Did I even have any warm clothes in my cabin? I'd have to raid the camp store if I wanted to pack before morning.

Thalia's mouth thinned into a line, but when she spoke what she said was, "I figured as much." She paused, glancing around. "And so did Chiron. Look, Percy... the Hunters don't usually allow men to join them, but I think now is a pretty good time to make an exception."

I blinked, feeling almost dumbfounded. "Wait... so you're inviting me along?"

Thalia nodded. "Yeah. Chiron said you'd want to come, and there was no point in trying to keep you here."

Well, I thought, that was pretty much right on the money. The instant I found out the Hunters had left, I would've packed up and left, too. I guessed Chiron did know me well enough to predict what I'd do, and in the end I was really just relieved he'd given me his permission instead of forcing me to sneak out of camp without it.

"Okay then," I replied, feeling a little like I'd woken up and thought it was just a regular Tuesday when actually it was my birthday (well, the way my birthdays had felt _before_ I'd found out about the whole prophecy thing). "Great."

Thalia just smiled wryly at me. "Great," she echoed. "Now we'll just have to explain it to the rest of the Hunters."

I didn't exactly know what to say to that – I knew they didn't really like guys, but would it really be that hard? – but Thalia didn't really seem to expect an answer. That seemed to be that, and we started walking again. But then Thalia turned to Annabeth, who'd been pretty silent this whole time. Something seemed to pass between them, and Thalia said, "You can come, if you want." She fingered the string on her bow, and said, "I wouldn't mind having some brains along."

Annabeth blinked, opening her mouth as her eyes went to me. I wasn't sure what she was thinking right then, but I sure knew what _I_ was thinking – I was remembering the conversation we'd just had, about me not shutting her out of my life and about how she'd been feeling really alone.

I suddenly realized that Thalia and Annabeth were way better friends than I'd ever really given them credit for – after all, they'd spent a long time with each other – and with Luke. Annabeth had been distinctly silent on the subject of Luke since even before we'd stopped talking, and I wondered if maybe having Thalia around to talk to about everything that had happened might not actually be just what she needed. Just because she obviously didn't want to talk to me about Luke didn't mean she didn't still need to talk to someone about it. And Thalia had been an awfully good listener when I'd needed to just talk.

"You know... I really wouldn't mind, either. The gods know she won't be getting any extra brains by inviting me along," I said, turning to smile at Annabeth. "I won't blame you at all if you don't want to come, but I know that you'd be a really important part of this if you did."

Annabeth looked decidedly blank for a minute, her eyes wide as they darted between Thalia's and mine. But finally her face relaxed, and she started to smile too, looking almost relieved. "Well, that's pretty true, Seaweed Brain," she said, punching me lightly on the shoulder. She looked at Thalia and nodded. "Yeah, okay. You can count me in."

Thalia's electric blue eyes seemed to sparkle even in the dim light, and she smiled too. "Great." She took a breath, and after a minute she added, "Actually, we'll need all the brains we can get. I'm still not sure how we're going to track Nico. Normally we don't have a problem tracking our quarry, but we're also not normally tracking a sixteen year-old half-blood," she said wryly. "Monsters are a whole lot more obvious about the trails they leave behind. Chiron thought maybe – "

"Wait!" I cried, feeling like someone had just turned on a floodlight in my brain. I stopped right there, my mind suddenly whirling with the pefect idea. How could I not have thought of it before? "Of course!"

Thalia and Annabeth stopped walking too, and now they turned back to me, looking confused. "Of course what?" Annabeth asked, frowning slightly. She probably didn't like that I'd come up with an idea before she had, but turnabout was totally fair play sometimes.

Because I'd just realized how we could track Nico – or, at least, how we could get some help doing it. I guess it's pretty, well, morbid to think about it, but ask any mythical creature that's not about to bite your head off and they'll tell you they can smell death on Nico like you can smell rotting trash on a dumpster. I remembered how Porkpie the pegasus hadn't wanted to give Nico a ride because he smelled like dead people. And even Blackjack had been hinting lately when I went down to the stable to feed him that some of that was starting to rub off on me.

So while the Hunters themselves couldn't follow a trail they couldn't sense, we had a creature that could. I wasn't sure how strong the trail would be, or whether Mrs. O'Leary could follow it all the way to him. But with the hellhoud and the Hunters working together, we were sure to be a whole lot better off than we would have been, otherwise.

"Mrs. O'Leary," I explained, waving my arms a bit in the direction of the practice arena. "She's a hellhound – she knows Nico's scent. She can even shadow travel like he can! Maybe she can help us stay on his trail."

I could almost smack myself for not thinking of it earlier, but I had to admit that in all the excitement (well, if you could call what I'd been feeling for the past couple of days "excitement") I'd completely forgotten about the hellhound living in the arena. Which was really pretty awful, considering that Quintus (read: Daedelus) had asked me to look after her for him. Though in all fairness, she could really take care of herself. She was, after all, a dog the size of a minivan.

Annabeth was nodding, and as she looked up to Thalia the daughter of Zeus nodded as well. "A hellhound might be able to track him," Thalia murmured, thinking it over. "She won't be able to follow his trail the whole time – especially not if he's been shadow traveling. But she might be able to sense if he stopped somewhere. And the Hunters and I can fill in the gaps."

"It's a good idea," Annabeth mused, finally starting to smile again. "Not bad, Seaweed Brain. Not bad at all."

I just grinned back. After all, hunters had used dogs to help them track things since pretty much forever, right? And I was sure Mrs. O'Leary wouldn't mind – she liked Nico, after all.

"But you have to promise me one thing, Percy," Thalia said, suddenly serious. "You _cannot_ just take her and go on without us. She may be able to shadow travel, but even if you were able to find him on your own... I know you don't think Nico would hurt you, and I don't like to think he would either, but we know the truth about how Silena died." She glanced from me to Annabeth and back again. "I admit that I don't know him well, but everything you and Chiron have told me indicates that Nico is _not_ acting like himself. We have to assume that none of us can know exactly what he'll do – and that includes you."

Much though I was reluctant to admit it, I had to agree with Thalia. I wished it wasn't true, but I really _didn't_ know what Nico would do any more than anyone else did right now, and while I didn't necessarily want to surround him with a troop of arrow-wielding girls when we found him, I had to admit that I knew I'd need the backup. Especially if tracking him turned out to be harder than I hoped – and knowing Nico, it probably would be.

"Okay," I agreed. "I promise."

Thalia nodded. "Then I promise that when we find him, you'll be the one who gets to do the talking. Chiron thinks you'll be able to get Nico to come back without any trouble."

I nodded again. I really, really hoped so. My track record the past two times I'd seen him hadn't been so great, though. Nico had a stubborn streak wider than the Grand Canyon, after all. But, I thought somewhat hopeful, it was water that had worn the rock down in the end, hadn't it?

We were almost back to the cabins by then, and Thalia glanced at the both of us again before smiling and saying, "Well, I guess we'd all better get some rest. We'll leave first thing after breakfast, all right?"

Annabeth and I agreed, and the three of us parted ways. I admit that part of me wanted to run straight to the arena under cover of darkness and take Mrs. O'Leary then and there, I was so excited about the prospect of actually using her to find Nico. But the rest of me – the part that had agreed with Thalia – knew better. Annabeth had told me just this evening that I couldn't focus on Nico to the exclusion of my friends, and she was right. He was out there alone right now, and yes he needed my help – but I had friends who were willing to help bring me to him, and there was no way I could turn my back on them now. I was just going to have to compromise and hope that it would get me to Nico faster than if I tried on my own. After all, the Hunters were skilled trackers and I... well, I really wasn't.

More importantly, when I found Nico and showed him that more people than just me wanted him to come back, he would see that no one at Camp Half-Blood had abandoned him, either. I hoped the presence of the Hunters being there would help more than it hurt, but I was sure that Nico would at least listen to Annabeth and Thalia if he'd only give them a chance. In the end, having my friends by my side would only make it that much easier for Nico to see that he needed to stop running away. Camp Half-Blood could be home, if only he'd come back and let us help him.

*

Of course, the rest of the Hunters weren't as convinced of my usefulness as Thalia and Annabeth were. What was more, they all seemed to be convinced I had cooties.

Thalia called a meeting first thing after breakfast, but since it was a really bad idea for me to go into the Artemis cabin (and I would rather start this quest _alive_, thanks), everyone met in the training arena instead. The Hunters were wearing their usual silvery jackets and jeans, and all they seemed to carry was their weapons. Annabeth and I each had backpacks full of extra clothes, flashlights and batteries, and a canteen of nectar and baggie of ambrosia apiece. I was pretty sure Annabeth had Daedelus' laptop in hers as well. I'd been worried about having warm clothes, but when I'd gotten back to my cabin last night someone (probably Chiron) had already laid out three hoodies on my bed. Now I was wearing one and the other two were stuffed into my bag. I would have thanked him at breakfast this morning, but he was noticeably absent from the dining pavilion. I'd asked about telling him we were leaving, but Thalia said he already knew and not to worry about it.

So now Annabeth and Thalia and the Hunters and I were all standing in a group at the edge of the arena as the sun finally rose above the trees and I was seriously noticing that absolutely all of the girls (minus Thalia and Annabeth) refused to get within ten feet of me. All of the Hunters were standing to one side and staring at Thalia like she'd just told them they were going to throw a surprise party for Kronos' birthday, instead of that Annabeth and I were going to be helping them find Nico di Angelo.

One of the younger girls, who was probably ten or eleven (or, well, _had_ been when she'd joined the Hunt), wrinkled her nose. "But he's a _boy_!" she insisted, sounding horribly distressed. "Annabeth's okay I guess, but we can't trust boys! Lady Artemis says they're only interested in one thing!"

Next to me Annabeth made a choking sound that was kind of a snicker and kind of a snort, and I decided it was perfectly okay to feel offended. Was that really what these girls believed? Honestly... "Look, I'm not interested in any of you, okay?" I said flatly, wishing they'd all stop inching away from me like I had the plague or something. Artemis really seemed to do a no-guys brainwashing number on her Hunters – at least, the longer they stayed with her. After all, Thalia didn't seem to think I was going to contaminate her with my boy-germs or anything. And I was kind of busy trying not to think about why I was pretty sure Annabeth had kept turning down Atemis' offer to her to join the Hunt. "Nico is my boyfriend."

There, I'd said it. Honestly I didn't know how none of them had noticed, given that they'd been around camp a couple of days now, but either way now there could be no more room for doubt. They could think what they wanted about what I'd just said, but I really hoped it would at least make them understand the reason I needed to come with them – as well as the fact that I wasn't going to go sneaking peeks at them in the shower or anything. (I mean, okay, sure – I still thought girls could be cute, and I'd actually kind of wondered if maybe I wasn't really gay, but I was just... attracted to _Nico_ and I would have been no matter what sex he was. But the Hunters didn't need to know that, right?)

A ripple of murmurs went through the group of girls, but while they at least stopped inching away, none of them seemed inclined to get any closer, either. "They'll just slow us down," one of the other girls said, a redhead with freckles across her nose who looked closer to my own age. "There's no way they can track as well as we can."

"Maybe that's true, but I know of someone who can." I put my fingers in my mouth and whistled, and immediately a large black shape detached itself from the shadows at the other end of the arena and came bounding toward us.

Most of the Hunters' eyes widened. A number of them went for their bows, but Thalia put up one hand the the girls froze as Mrs. O'Leary did her best to bowl me over and wash my face and hair with copious amounts of dog spit. Annabeth, who'd been standing right beside me, had conveniently sidestepped the doggie onslaught.

"Okay!" I shouted, trying to ward off her ginormous tongue by waving my arms in front of my face. "Heel, girl!"

After a few more licks the giant hellhound reluctantly backed off, lowering her butt to the ground with a tremor that I felt in the dirt beneath me as I struggled to get myself into a sitting position before pushing myself to my feet. I ran a hand through my hair, trying not to make a face when it came away wet and sticky. I was supposed to be looking cool and manly, not... dog-slobbered. Oh, well.

Annabeth suddenly reappeared in my field of view, offering a hand to help me up. "Mrs. O'Leary can help us track Nico," she explained, exchanging a glance with Thalia as I took her hand and used it to haul myself to my feet, trying not to get too much dog spit on Annabeth in the process – after all, she had helped me up.

Thalia nodded, then looked out at the Hunters, who were staring at us all like we'd gone completely insane. "Mrs. O'Leary should be able to pick up on the trail where we can't, and I expect that we'll be able to take up the hunt from the indications she's able to give us."

"Okay, but I still don't understand why _they_ have to come with," said a third girl, taller than I was and looking down her nose at me and Annabeth. "We'd be faster if we could work alone, without taking care of them."

If there's one thing I've learned when fighting monsters, it's never show your fear. And facing down a group of boy-hating girls had to follow the same general principles, right? "Look, I'm not asking you watch my back, okay?" I put in. "And Annabeth can take care of herself." That earned me a cheeky smile, and I returned it with a nervous one of my own.

"That still doesn't explain why we're helping you," the girl said, and even as I felt Thalia stiffen beside me, I knew that she couldn't fight this battle for me. Neither could Annabeth. Thalia could order the Hunters to do it anyway, and Annabeth could probably bring them around, sure. But they would never respect me and what I needed to do – not really, unless I could make them understand _why_.

"I'm not as good at tracking as you are," I said, and a ripple of sarcastic laughter echoed through the Hunters. "So yeah, I need your help. But so does Nico. And that's important because of who he is – the sixteen year-old son of Hades. Maybe you didn't know that, but I know you all know what it means." Around me, heads were nodding. The laughter had died down, and all of their eyes were fixed on me now.

"Nico hasn't been acting like himself. I think he might need help and yeah, you can find him faster than I can but I'm the only one he'll listen to. So if you want to bring him back to Chiron that's fine, but I'm going to help you do it. I'll do this without you if I have to, but I don't think you can do it without me," I finished, crossing my arms and hoping I'd managed to get them to understand. I didn't really want to threaten them (that wasn't the way to win any girl's approval, I was pretty sure), but they had to know what was at stake. And they had to know that everyone stood a much better chance together than apart – I'd managed to accept that, so I could only hope they would, too.

Beside me, Thalia nodded. All eyes went to her as she said, "Percy's right. Nico needs our help and he may be acting erratic. His trail probably will be, too. That's why we've got Mrs. O'Learly, and it's why Percy and Annabeth are coming along. She paused. "And Percy and Annabeth _are_ coming along. When we find Nico, they do the talking. Anyone who has a problem with any of that can stay in the Artemis cabin here until we return."

Not one of the girls opted to stay. I wasn't surprised. Thalia nodded again, looking much more pleased. "Now I know Chiron went over this, but I just want to be clear about one last thing. When we do find Nico, he is not to be harmed. You all know the difference between a shot that disables and a shot that doesn't."

I didn't really like that she had to point that out, but at least all the girls were nodding like they understood. "All right then," Thalia said. "Let's get going. Serena, you're with Annabeth."

The girls zipped up their matching silver parkas and Thalia turned to me. "Percy, can you get ahold of Mrs. O'Leary's collar?"

"Uh, sure," I said, hefting my backpack and reaching up to grab onto the giant collar, earning myself a slobbery lick on the arm for my trouble. "Okay."

A girl with brown hair and almond-shaped eyes came over to us, holding out a hand to Annabeth just as Thalia reached out for my free hand, saying, "We don't shadow travel, but Lady Artemis helps us when we need the speed. You might want to hold on."


	12. Ch 11: Looking For You

**The Ties That Bind**

Chapter 11: Looking For You

_If everything'd stop, I'd listen for your heart  
To lead me right to you, yeah _  
- My Hands (David Archuleta)

As Thalia squeezed my hand she murmured a prayer to Artemis, and my vision seemed to fill with silvery light until it was almost too bright to see anything at all. Then my stomach shifted, like I was on a train that had suddenly started moving. Although I could see the outlines of things like trees and rocks and bushes, they seemed to be elongated and blurred, moving past us and standing still almost at the same time. It was definitely nothing like shadow traveling – more like moving on fast-forward. It was really disorienting, more like being on a giant treadmill as the world went by way too fast. I almost preferred the cool dark of the shadows when Nico pulled me through them.

Things suddenly shifted back into color and we found ourselves in the countryside beyond Camp Half-Blood's borders. There was pretty much nothing out here except for the occasional farmhouse, and we were actually standing in what looked like somebody's field, though there was nothing growing in it at the moment.

"Whoa," I said, as my stomach seemed to catch up with the rest of me. I felt pretty dizzy, but thankfully I didn't stagger or worse, puke. That would've been embarrassing. I still had one hand tangled in Mrs. O'Leary's dog collar, so I suppose that even if I'd tried to fall over, it probably wouldn't have worked.

Annabeth had dropped Serena's hand and was blinking furiously, like she was trying to figure out how we'd gotten here. The rest of the Hunters were standing around like they'd done this a million times. They probably had.

"Okay," Thalia said, her hand slipping out of mine. "This is far enough from camp that there shouldn't be any stray scents to confuse Mrs. O'Leary." She glanced at me, and I suddenly got the feeling I was going to be in charge of the dog for the duration of this trip. That was okay with me, though – we got along pretty well, after all. Mrs. O'Leary was really a good dog at heart. She was just a really _big_ one, too.

I nodded, trying to disentangle my hand from her collar. "Okay, girl," I said, running one hand down her massive shoulder. "You know Nico, right?" I shrugged one arm out of my backpack's strap and unzipped it, pulling out a black t-shirt – Nico's black t-shirt. I felt a little dumb – seriously, everyone was watching me – but I tried to ignore it as I held it up for the hellhound to snuffle. "He smells like this. You remember him. You like him."

Mrs. O'Leary barked happily.

"We need to follow him," I said, watching the giant black hellhound as she paused for a moment, almost like she was considering my request. (I mean, not that she could really understand me... but then again, maybe she could. I'd really hoped that just sticking something Nico-smelling under her nose would be enough for her to get the idea.)

Then the giant black head turned sharply to the right, and I scrambled to grab for her collar with one hand and reach out for Thalia with the other. I wasn't sure how this was going to work, exactly, but if Mrs. O'Leary found a direction, I figured Thalia would want to use her Artemis Warp trick again to keep us all together.

The next thing I felt was a tugging sensation in my gut that was actually pretty familiar – shadow travel. I tightened my grip on Thalia's hand, hoping she'd get the picture and be able to pull the rest of the Hunters with us or we'd have to double back and try again.

What followed next can only be described as totally disorienting – even more than the first time, in fact. It felt like a combination of regular shadow traveling, which was already pretty disorienting even if I was kind of used to it, and the strange way Artemis had allowed Thalia to move the whole group outside the camp in the blink of an eye. I knew that Mrs. O'Leary couldn't take more than one or two passengers along when she shadow traveled, and that it made her tire easily. I guessed that was where the Hunters' special mode of transportation came in, boosting Mrs. O'Leary's range and allowing us all to go in one big group. That meant I could kind of see where we were going, but it was really hard to make sense of where we were or how fast we were moving. It felt like being on a roller coaster and in one of those centrifuge rides all at once. I was really glad I hadn't eaten a whole lot of breakfast.

The first time I blinked I recognized more of the countryside beyond Camp Half-Blood's borders; the second, third, and fourth times we were surrounded by more forest, unrecognizable. A fifth blink and we were at a gas station along a lonely strip of highway somewhere that looked like it could be somewhere in rural New York or Pennsylvania.

Every couple of shifts, we'd stop and let Mrs. O'Leary rest while the rest of us regrouped. It was hard to tell how long each jump took, but every time we stopped the sun had inched higher in the sky. It never felt like hours were passing, but apparently they were.

I wasn't the only one who realized it, either. By the fifth rest stop the sun was high overhead in the sky, and Annabeth frowned. "How long have we been traveling?"

Thalia squinted at the sky overhead. "A couple of hours, I think."

"It doesn't feel that way," Annabeth said. She glanced at her watch. "And my watch says it's only been twenty minutes.

It was obvious time had passed, but I wasn't sure why. "Shadow travel is instantaneous," I pointed out, glancing at Mrs. O'Leary. "At least, I think so." Nico had never worried about time passing strangely when he slipped through the shadows.

"But our way isn't," Thalia said, coming up beside me. "Even with a hellhound leading, it still takes time for Artemis to help us move us this far." She caught the look on Annabeth's face and shrugged. "Hey, it's faster than driving."

"Guess so," was all Annabeth could say to that.

I had to admit, I didn't like that it was taking so much time either. I wanted to be where Nico was _now_, because it was important to get to him and get him back to camp as soon as possible. But I'd promised to stick it out with the group, and Thalia was right, after all – so maybe we weren't instantaneously jumping from place to place like Nico could, but it was definitely easier than actually driving. And it cost less for gas.

Though we would, I realized, have to get a couple tens of bags of kibble for Mrs. O'Leary. Or maybe just find her a nice big restaurant dumpster to root around in. No one ever seemed to notice her, so as long as we didn't look like we were looting or anything it shouldn't be a problem...

But for now, we were still in the middle of nowhere. While Mrs. O'Leary dognapped, most of the Hunters set about making sure their weapons were in good condition. It seemed a little excessive to me – I mean, they'd just checked them this morning, which for us had been what, twenty minutes ago? – but I kind of got the vibe that it was more to give them something to do so they wouldn't have to deal with Annabeth and me. Well, fine – they didn't have to be my best friends, after all. They just had to help me find Nico and bring him back to camp.

So Annabeth and I just kind of stood around uneasily, checking and rechecking the contents of our backpacks until maybe ten minutes later, when Mrs. O'Leary rumbled deep in her chest and blinked open her eyes. Her tail wagged as she stood and looked right at me, cocking her head like she was waiting for me to be ready to go again. We took that as our signal to regroup, and only a minute later we were off again, traveling via that weird half-shadow travel, half-goddess-gifted travel that left my head spinning and staticky without too much room left for anything else.

*

When we finally halted for the day, it took me a minute to get my bearings – after all, it felt like my brain was rattling around inside my skull. We'd been stopping in wilderness for most of the afternoon, but as evening drew nearer it was clear we were getting closer and closer to civilization. Now we were standing in an alleyway in what looked like an industrial area of a large city. The two buildings flanking us were hulking blocks of concrete and I could see large cranes off in the distance. I could also smell water somewhere nearby – fresh water, and lots of it. I didn't have to look far – about a block away to the left, the street dropped off into a large mass of water. It wasn't the ocean, but it sure was a freaking huge lake.

"Ohhh," moaned Annabeth, putting one hand to her temple. "I don't think I can do that a whole lot more today."

Most of the Hunters looked just as bad – they all had their bows drawn and none of them was complaining, but I could tell by the way they were standing that they weren't feeling too hot, either. I just kept my grip on Mrs. O'Leary's collar, even as the dog snuffled around a bit, whined, and flopped over to nap, nearly squashing me in the process.

I frowned. "I think she lost the scent." That wasn't exactly reassuring, but I guessed that was what the Hunters were along for... right?

Thalia had dropped my hand and was looking around, one hand on her bow. "Where are we?"

Annabeth squinted at the skyline – there were just a few tall buildings visible in the distance. Finally, she hazarded, "Cleveland?" How she could tell based on a couple buildings I didn't know, but if anyone could tell a city based on its architecture, it would be Annabeth. I was pretty sure she'd studied every major city in the US, and then some.

Thalia made a face. "_Cleveland_?" she muttered. "What would he be doing here?" She glanced at me like maybe I had an answer, but I really didn't. I just shrugged.

"He's never even mentioned the place before."

Thalia frowned. "Hm."

"Perhaps he was just passing through," one of the Hunters suggested. "Or he was trying to dissuade anyone from following him. If the hound has lost his scent..."

"We're right on Lake Erie," Annabeth said quietly, which I supposed explained the huge-ass lake, then. She glanced at me, frowning. "You don't think he'd be..."

I realized what she was suggesting. I frowned. "No. If he was somewhere in the lake, I think I'd feel it." Even though Nico could survive just fine underwater, I didn't think he'd be able to hide from me there. I was still much better at water-based things than he was, just like I wasn't so great at his death tricks. I didn't think he'd have the energy to stay hidden from me at the bottom of even one of the Great Lakes for as long as it would take for us to move on.

"Wait," the girl named Serena said, glancing at Annabeth and then at me. "I thought you said he was the son of Hades."

"He is," I confirmed.

"Then why," she asked, tilting her head in the direction of the docks, "would he be in a lake?"

"I... uh. Because I can – so he... " I floundered, feeling completely ridiculous. My face was getting really hot. Finally the best I could come up with was, "Look, I _told_ you he was my boyfriend!"

I realized Thalia's cheeks were turning slightly pink too, and she quickly cut in, saying, "Well now that we know he has access to water travel as well, we'll have to be extra-thorough." She glanced around, her eyes landing on the sleeping form of Mrs. O'Leary. "Either way, it looks like we'll have to pick up the trail ourselves – in the morning. We'll have to give Mrs. O'Leary another chance to rest, and it's safer if we don't travel at night, either."

It turned out that bunking down with the Hunters wasn't going to be as bad as I'd first thought. I mean, I'd always thought that the Hunters usually camped, so I admit I was a little confused when we finally managed to herd a sleepy hellhound into the back parking lot of the Holiday Inn Select-City Center on Lakeside Avenue (thank you, Annabeth's laptop and Google Maps). Apparently the Hunters weren't averse to using a Platinum Rewards Visa card in the name of Diane Luna to get a handful of rooms for the night. When Thalia nonchalantly explained to the girl behind the front desk that they were in town for a cheerleading competition (while I hid at the back of the group), her eyes pretty much just glazed over. She swiped the card and didn't even ask for a signature when she forked over a handful of room keys.

Of course, I got my own room – none of the girls would be caught dead sharing with me and even though I'd shared plenty of small, cramped spaces with Annabeth before, she opted to stay with Thalia. I guess I wasn't really surprised; things were still a little weird between me and Annabeth, and I realized they might be for a while. But at least we were on the way to getting things back to the way they'd been, and that was good enough for me for now.

But even though I had a pretty sweet deal – my very own hotel room with a shower and a toilet and free HBO (hey, these were things you don't usually get on your average quest), I still felt uneasy as we settled down for the night – because it meant another night without Nico, and another night for the trail to go cold. But I'd promised Thalia I wouldn't go off alone, and so I flipped on the weather channel and hoped it would lull me to sleep so I wouldn't have to worry about where Nico was spending the night.

That night when I dreamed, it wasn't the watching-TV-like sort of eavesdropping dream that half-bloods sometimes have, but there was plenty to be disturbed about nonetheless. When I opened my eyes to the pale light coming in through the half-drawn curtains, all I could remember were vague images of darkness and blood, and someone far away, screaming.

The clock next to the bed read 05:10 in glowing red numbers. I groaned and rolled over, thinking about going back to sleep. But I was still disturbed by the dreams that I could only half-remember, and after about ten minutes I gave up on trying to sleep any more. I dragged myself out of bed and, pocketing my room key and Riptide, pulled on my shoes and took the elevator down to the lobby.

The girl who'd checked us in the night before had said there'd be a continental breakfast, but the guy there this morning said it didn't start until six. My stomach grumbled in protest, but he didn't appear particularly moved by its plight. I wasn't sure what to do until breakfast started – I could go back up and see if Annabeth or Thalia was awake, but I didn't really feel like talking to them right now. Talking to any of the other Hunters was totally out of the question, and when I wandered out into the back parking lot of the hotel, Mrs. O'Leary was snoozing happily between the hotel dumpster and a white minivan (no one appeared to have noticed her at all).

I wandered back through the hotel and out the front door this time, feeling that we were close to the lake and thinking that maybe spending a little time near the water could help clear my head. I wasn't sure if my dream meant anything or if it was just a nightmare for nightmare's sake, but either way I couldn't get the feeling of dread out of the pit of my stomach. I was pretty sure Annabeth would chew me out for wandering off, but it wasn't like I was planning to go far. Besides, I could take care of myself. It wasn't like she was my mom, and even _she_ let me wander around New York on my own. (Half-blood quests across the country aside.) And I _was_ going to come back. Wandering off for a little alone time near the water was totally different than hijacking a hellhound and going after Nico alone, I reasoned.

I didn't even have to ask for directions – I could feel the tug of the water somewhere in my gut. I followed the feeling west down Lakeside Avenue, looking for a cross street that would take me to the lake. East 9th Street took me over a highway and out towards the water. The road ended on a chunk of concrete with a parking lot and an obviously-manmade patch of grass with a sign that read "Voinovich Park".

Well, it wasn't exactly a beach (or the ocean), but at least it was water and the sound of it lapping up against the concrete struts below made me feel a little better. There was an airport less than half a mile away, but all the planes lined up on the tarmac just off the runway were small and no one seemed to be keen to fly just after dawn. I went right up to the chain barrier at the edge of the concrete and pulled off my sneakers, sitting with my bare feet dangling over the edge so my toes could try and catch the spray.

It wasn't as relaxing as being on a real beach near the ocean, but it was definitely better than nothing. I closed my eyes, shivering in the barely-dawn sunlight even though I was wearing a sweatshirt. It really was getting into fall, I thought. I wondered idly if Nico could spend Christmas with me and my mom.

It was a stupid thought, sure. But I mean, was it really all that bad to hope that things would be okay enough for me to bring my boyfriend home for Christmas? Okay, so Mom didn't know Nico was my boyfriend... but maybe I should think about telling her. I really didn't know how she'd react, but if I'd learned anything it was that people seemed to get more angry with me for _not_ telling them things, rather than the other way around. So maybe she'd be okay with it. Maybe she'd even make Nico some of her famous blue eggnog – no, you don't want to know how she managed that, but all I can tell you is that it tastes awesome and you're better off not knowing what went into it.

As I sat there resting against one of the stone supports that connected the chains around the perimeter, the feel of the even the weak sun on my face and the wind on my cheeks lulled me almost back to sleep. After all, I hadn't slept well last night – or most of the nights before that, really. Wearing myself out so that I slept through the night had only worked once, and since then my dreams had been like last night's – jumbled and full of images that I couldn't remember clearly once I woke.

But sitting here, I didn't feel disturbed at all. Even the chill in the air slid away until I felt quiet, comfortable, and the only thing that was missing was Nico beside me. If I reached out my hand I felt like he was _almost_ there, like if I could just sit still enough and listen hard enough I could hear him right next to me. I wished I had a link with him the way I had with Grover – maybe it wasn't always useful, but at least I'd be able to tell if he was okay. Maybe it would've been able to lead me to him and we wouldn't have had to send this big search party in the first place.

I breathed in and out, matching my breaths with the lapping of the water, and tried to clear my mind of whatever remained of my dream. It wasn't too hard, since I didn't remember anything specific, but it was still difficult to get rid of the ever-present feeling of _got to go, right now_ that I'd had pretty much ever since Nico left. I felt antsy and nervous, and I admit that part of me was hoping that if I could concentrate just right, I would be able to pick up the trail where Mrs. O'Leary had lost it. Sure, that was what the Hunters were here to do, but something in me wanted _me_ to be the one to find the way to Nico, and not them. Somehow I felt like I should just know where he was, where he'd gone. The rest of me wished that maybe he'd left a clue, some way that I could follow him, like a way to show me that he wanted to be found.

"Hello?"

I started, almost falling over the edge and into the water as my eyes flew open at the voice. I clutched at the stone support next to me and looked around wildly for the source of the voice. "Wha?"

_Two_ voices answered my distress, mostly by laughing at it. There was no one standing behind me on the concrete, and I realized as my eyes found the last place I hadn't looked that it was because the two girls who were now staring at me were looking _up_ from their place in the water below me.

They were peering up at me from the lake below, pale faces with dark blue eyes and hair that seemed to change color with the way the sunlight hit the surface of the water. _Limnades_, I realized – Naiads who lived in freshwater lakes.

I swallowed, trying to calm my racing heart. They seemed more amused than anything, and I didn't think they were exactly here to kill me (though I suppose you can never be too careful). "Um," I said. "Hi?"

They giggled again, exchanging a glance with each other. "We didn't mean to scare you," one said.

"Much," added the other.

"We were just curious," the first went on, nudging her friend with one shoulder. "You're the second boy who's come here to try and commune with the lake this week. It's a bit odd, you know."

My ears perked up at that – _the second_? We knew Nico had been in the city – maybe he still was. Had he been here, too, trying to find peace? Had he been thinking about me? My heart started racing all over again, but I tried to play it cool as I asked, "What was the first one like?"

The limnades exchanged another look before the first one said, "Tall. Dark. Handsome. You know."

I found myself nodding – I did know. Because clichéd as the description was, it did kind of fit Nico pretty perfectly.

"He was weird, though," the second one put in, obviously the more practical (if less tactful) of the two. "He smelled like death." She wrinkled her nose. "And he kept muttering to himself, jerking around. He started yelling at nothing. He threw rocks at us."

Now I frowned. That didn't sound good – in fact, it sounded like Nico had gotten worse, not better. Forgetting things and being moody was one thing. Yelling at thin air was another. It only increased the feeling of anxiousness in my gut, which doubled as I asked, "Do you know where he went?"

Maybe this was it – maybe this was the clue I needed, my chance to find where Nico was all on my own. (Or, well, with some help – but I was pretty sure that the limnades wouldn't have talked to anyone but me. So that counted, right?)

"Maybe," said the second girl, and that certainly made me sit up and pay attention. The two exchanged a look, as though they were trying to remember something Nico had said. I wanted to ask, but I forced myself to stay quiet and let them think.

"He was muttering an awful lot," the first one mused, putting one hand to her chin like she was trying hard to remember. "He said something about..."

"West," the second one chimed in. "He said he had to go west, remember?" She poked her friend. "To the mountain."

My stomach dropped right through the concrete and kept on falling. "The mountain?" I echoed hollowly, but it only took a few seconds for me to understand exactly what that meant.

West to the mountain – there was only one mountain that could mean. _Mount Othrys_, which was now located in California on Mount Tamalpais. It was the place where I'd seen Kronos rise from his horrific golden sarcophagus, reborn into Luke Castellan's body. It was there that Nico had inadvertently shown Kronos that he was the son of Hades, by raising a wall of black rock to help us escape. I didn't know if it was where Kronos had retreated to after we'd beaten his forces in Boston, but it had been his base of operations at some point and all I could think was that Nico had done the unthinkable – he'd gone after Kronos. _Alone_.

Just as suddenly as my heart felt like it had stopped, it started up again, double-time. I scrambled for my shoes, pulling on my socks all wrong and cursing as my cold fingers failed to tie my laces on the first try. I glanced down at the two girls in the water, now watching me like they thought _I_ was crazy, and as I pushed myself off the ground I managed to mutter something that came out pretty much like, "ThanksIhavetogonowbye."

And then I was off, running back up 9th Street towards the hotel. I didn't want to think about all the scenarios running through my head, so I concentrated on getting back to Thalia's room as fast as I possibly could. I flew through the lobby, pounding on the button for the elevator and trying valiantly to throw myself into it before the doors had fully opened. I bounced on the balls of my feet as I punched the button for the seventh floor repeatedly even as the elevator started rising.

When I finally arrived at the end of the hall, hand raised to pound on Thalia and Annabeth's door, I was almost disappointed to see it propped open with the luggage stand from the closet. Just as I was about to open my mouth to call into the room, Thalia's head popped out of the bathroom door and she said, "Oh, there you are. Annabeth's pissed, you know."

I glanced around the room, still wound up but the mention of Annabeth's name made me pause. "Where is she?" Angry or not, I knew she'd want to hear this as well. She'd know what it meant.

Thalia tilted her head towards the open backpack sitting in the entryway of the room. "She went down to the lobby for breakfast and free internet. Don't worry," she added, "Most of the Hunters are down there, too. I told her you were probably just wandering around, especially since Mrs. O'Leary's still here." At my incredulous look, she shrugged. "You promised me, Percy. I know you'll keep that promise."

"Right," I said, and swallowed. "Thanks." But then the reason I'd come up here resurfaced, and I pushed myself past the luggage stand and pulled it behind me, letting the door swing shut. "Thalia, look. I know where Nico's gone."

Immediately Thalia's expression turned serious, and she motioned me further into the room. "How do you know?" she asked.

"I was down by the lake," I explained quickly, gesturing in the general direction with one arm. "I didn't sleep really well so yeah, I just went down there to think until breakfast." I realized that I'd completely lost my appetite, but that didn't matter right now. "I met a pair of limnades there, they said they'd seen Nico." My stomach churned as I remembered the way they'd described him – honestly, he'd sounded pretty crazy. "They said he was muttering, yelling at nothing... but that he said something about going west." I swallowed. "To the mountain."

Thalia's bright blue eyes clouded over, and I could tell she understood what that meant as well as I had. "The mountain," she echoed quietly, and turned towards the room's window, pulling the crisp white curtains aside to look at the city spread out beyond, the bright sunlight contrasting starkly with the way I felt inside right now. I felt like a cloud of darkness had descended over me, eating me up from the inside out. I felt like I was running out of time. I didn't know how long it would take Nico to get to Mount Tam, or if he was already there. I figured if something big had already gone down, we'd know about it. But that didn't make me feel a whole lot better. After all, I didn't know how long it would take _us_ to get to Mount Tam, either. I just knew that I really, really didn't want to be too late.

Thalia turned around, watching me carefully as she said, "You know what that means, don't you?"

It wasn't really a question – just her way of making sure that I understood the gravity of the situation. She hadn't needed to ask – I did. I nodded, wishing I didn't but knowing that wouldn't change a thing. "Mount Tam," I said. "Kronos."


	13. Ch 12: Change

**The Ties That Bind:**

**Chapter 12: Change**

_Because these things will change, can you feel it now?  
These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down,  
It's a revolution, the time will come for us to finally win._

- Change (Taylor Swift)

"Percy, you do realize that this..." Thalia bit her lip, looking like she really didn't want to tell me what she had to say. "You do realize that maybe he hasn't gone there to fight Kronos."

I stared at Thalia, for a minute honestly not comprehending what she was saying. Not going to fight Kronos? Then why else –

Then it clicked. "No," I said, shaking my head as the unease in the pit of my stomach only grew. "He's not – he wouldn't – "

But I had to admit, in the back of my mind, that there was the tiniest possibility that he _would_. Nico had told me he'd been tempted, just for a minute, back in Boston. He'd told me he'd actually thought about it – but then he'd turned Kronos down and refused to be a part of his plan. Nico had said no once, why would he say yes now? Despite everything that had happened, it was nearly impossible for me to actually believe that Nico would join the Titan's cause.

But part of me whispered that Nico wasn't himself right now, that something was definitely wrong with him. Part of me wondered if the stress really had gotten to him – if he just wanted to make it all go away, and if he might think that the easier way to do that would be to join Kronos, rather than to fight him. Together they might be able to take on Olympus – together, Kronos had said, they might be able to beat even death. Together...

I swallowed, the action sounding loud in the suddenly silent room. "Thalia...?" I croaked, licking my lips and trying again. My throat felt very dry all of a sudden. There was no easy way to ask this, but I had to do it right. This was something that I'd never been able to ask Annabeth, because she closed up or got angry whenever I approached the subject. But right now there were questions that I desperately needed the answers to.

Honestly, I'd figured out why Annabeth shut down every time I tried to talk about Luke. Before, I'd always just thought Annabeth was touchy about Luke because she'd looked up to him so much, because he'd protected her when she was little. Anybody'd get mad at someone badmouthing their protector – their hero – like that. But maybe it had always been something more. It had taken me a long time to realize it, but maybe falling in love for myself had changed the way I saw things – well, some things. Apparently I could still be a jerk and not realize it, and I felt bad about treating Annabeth the way I had. I felt my stomach sink as I realized that, in a way, Annabeth had always been betrayed by the people she loved most. That really made me feel worse than mud on the bottom of Ares' boots.

And I was pretty sure that Thalia felt the same way about Luke, but we hadn't exactly gotten along like best buddies for a while and I'd never thought to ask her about it. But now, standing here, she seemed like the only other person who might understand just what I was feeling.

It wasn't that I thought Nico had gone over to the Titan's side. I didn't. But I just... I wanted to know if the way I'd felt back at the funeral pyre was, you know, _okay_. Normal. Or if maybe it was really not okay for me to feel the way I did. I mean, not that knowing what Thalia thought was going to change the way I felt – of course it wouldn't. But I did know that I'd feel better knowing that I wasn't the only person who'd thought about following someone over a line they'd never thought they'd cross.

"What did you... I mean, how did you feel when you found out about Luke? I mean, about the whole Kronos thing..."

Well, that was totally not tactful, I thought miserably. Way to go, self. Thalia was staring at me, looking strange in the early morning sunlight filtering in through the window. One hand was still on the curtains and if I looked carefully, I could see that the knuckles had gone white. Her lips were pressed into a thin line. For a minute I was pretty sure I'd blown it – she was going to yell at me like Annabeth always did, asking me how I could say anything about Luke at a time like this, and that would be the end of it.

But she didn't. She let go of the curtain, cutting off most of the sunlight as it swung shut so that all that was left was a sliver shining from between the break where the two sides met. She was quiet for a long moment – well, at least she wasn't yelling – until she said, "I... I didn't know _what_ to think. I didn't want to believe it at first. Sometimes I still can't believe it. Luke was... Percy, you have to understand. Luke was – he was my world. He was everything I wanted to be for a really long time – "

"You love him," I said quietly, and I could tell it caught her off guard. "I mean... I just... I need to know what you felt like, because I don't know..."

_I don't know what to do if Nico turns on us, too._

I knew what my head said I _should_ do, and I knew what my gut said I _would_ do. And I was still torn between them, even though if I was ever faced with the choice, I knew it would be no contest.

Thalia had gone silent and for a minute, despite my inexplicable surety, I wondered if maybe I'd been really wrong. But, "Yeah," she finally said, so quietly that it was hard to hear her. "Yeah, I did."

_Did_. It was hard to miss that word, and harder to miss what it meant, even for a stupid thick-headed guy like me. "But you let him go," I said hollowly, not meaning to be insulting or anything, but just stating the simple truth. "You accepted that he was your enemy and decided to stand against him. Right?"

Thalia's eyes were wide now, as she stared right into mine. "Percy, I know what you're thinking. I've thought it myself. You think that you can save him – that he's been tricked, or that he couldn't possibly be what everyone else says he is. You think you can make it all better, but you _can't_ – "

But I'd heard more than enough. "Look, we don't even really know why Nico's gone to Mount Tam," I said quickly, not letting her continue because I knew where she was going. And I knew that I couldn't tell her what I really wanted to say – but we were both better off if she never realized that fact. "Either way it's really bad news, okay? We need to get there, like, yesterday."

Now, like it or not, I had my answer. Part of me wondered how Thalia could do it when I couldn't – how she could see Luke as her enemy when I knew that there was no way I could ever look Nico in the eyes and tell him I wouldn't follow him, wherever he went. Whatever it meant I had to give up. And I realized now that no, it really wasn't okay to feel that way. But I did, and it wasn't going to change. Whatever happened when we found Nico, I was going to stand by him. And I would deal with the consequences when they came.

But for now, I could hope that Nico had gone to confront the Titan, not to join him. I had to have faith that he wanted to save Olympus as much as the rest of us. I prayed that we would find him in one piece when we caught up with him. Then we could face Kronos together, stronger than either of us was alone, and I knew there was no way that even a Titan could withstand both of us, if only we could work together to stop him.

*

We found Annabeth sitting in the breakfast area of the lobby with her laptop on the small table in front of her, typing furiously and frowning. The Hunters were scattered at various other tables, talking quietly amongst themselves in twos and fours and picking at plates of toast and fruit or disinterestedly stirring bowls of instant oatmeal.

When Annabeth looked up and saw me, her eyes narrowed and she huffed a sigh that could have been exasperation or relief (but was probably exasperation). "You need to tell someone before you disappear, you know," was all she said, as Thalia and I approached the table. I shrugged, feeling like once she found out what I had, she wouldn't be so mad about me going to take a morning walk.

Next to me, I saw Thalia open her mouth to speak. But then her brow furrowed and I followed her gaze to the TV mounted on the wall in the corner, which was on mute but had subtitles scrolling by in white-on-black text (which was not really helpful when you're dyslexic). It was showing the national news, and there were images flashing by of crumbled buildings and collapsed highways. I managed to make out the headline sitting static on the side of the screen. It read, "California Quake Measures 8.5 on Richter Scale".

I blinked. "Whoa. That's pretty bad, isn't it?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "'Pretty bad' doesn't begin to describe it, Seaweed Brain. California's never had one that big in recorded history." When I glanced around the back of the laptop to see her screen, I saw more pictures of the same sort that were on the TV – she was reading the news online.

"Oh," was pretty much all I could say to that.

Something niggled at the back of my mind, uncomfortable and sharp, just as Thalia nudged me and said, "Do you think it has anything to do with...?"

My stomach dropped. Earthquake. California. Which was where Mount Tam was – where Nico was headed. "Uh." Oh gods, I really hoped not. I really, _really_ hoped that had nothing to do with Nico. Really, how could it? I'd seen him create cracks in the earth or raise sheets of stone, but an 8.5-magnitude earthquake? _Nico_?

But then, the back of my mind whispered, what were the chances that it was random? What were the chances that _anything_ big was random these days, when the clock ticking down to the standoff between Kronos and the Olympians was running a lot faster than it had used to.

Annabeth cocked her head, narrowing her eyes at us. "What's up?" she asked suspiciously, realizing there was something we knew that she didn't.

Thalia just chucked at thumb back towards the elevators. "Meeting in our room, five minutes." Her eyes flicked over to the guy at the front desk and the woman in a business suit who'd just come in the automatic glass sliding doors, as if to say that this wasn't something we could discuss out in the open. Then she left to go tell the rest of the Hunters, which left me standing there with a wary Annabeth, who shut the sleek black lid of the laptop with an audible _click_.

"What's this about?" she demanded, standing up and tucking the computer under one arm. "Tell me now."

I pointed in the direction of the elevators, and we started walking. "Nico," I said quietly. "I found out where he's headed." We reached the elevators and I hit the button impatiently.

The elevator _ding!_ed and we stepped inside, Annabeth hitting _Door Close_ before she punched the button for the seventh floor. "And?" she asked, her voice just as quiet, but in a tone that said she wasn't going to wait for Thalia to explain it all when I could tell her right now.

"And I'm pretty sure it's Mount Tam."

The look in Annabeth's eyes was caught somewhere between horror and pity, and I didn't like it at all. I had to look away, staring at the row of buttons next to the elevator doors, which opened as we came to a stop on the correct floor. "Look," I said quickly, as we stepped out and Annabeth fumbled for her keycard in her pocket, "I know this is really, really bad."

Annabeth slipped the card into the slot of her door, and the light on the handle turned green and the two of us slipped inside. She dumped the laptop on the nearer of the two beds and turned around to face me. "It is really bad," she said. "Percy, if he's gone to fight Kronos on his own..."

I nodded. "We can't let him do that," I said firmly, and I meant it. I didn't care what it took – I would stay and listen to Thalia's plan, but if it wasn't something that I thought would help Nico...

Well, I wasn't above breaking my word. Not when it mattered like this.

Annabeth took a step closer. "You know that's not the only possibility," she said quietly, her eyes flicking to the door like she knew we wouldn't be alone much longer, and she wasn't sure she wanted to get into this conversation before the Hunters showed up.

She didn't – and neither did I. I'd already had it. "I know. But I _know_ Nico," I said quickly, before she could say any more. "You do, too. And I know that he hasn't been himself, but that doesn't mean he'd..."

But Annabeth just looked grim. "I know," she said quietly, going over to the window where the curtains were still closed and pulling them open, securing them this time so the sunlight could flood in unhindered. Then she turned to look at me, and now there was no horror in her eyes – only pity. "But Percy, you saw what happened with – with Silena. And everyone knows what happened with Clarisse. I'm not making any judgments before I have the facts," she said, before I could get a word in, "but..." She blinked rapidly a couple times, glancing out the window and into the morning sun. "Percy, I didn't think Luke would ever do anything like what he did, either."

It was the first time I'd ever heard her say something like that about Luke, and I was totally dumbstruck. I'd just talked to Thalia about him not ten minutes ago, but here was Annabeth, finally opening up to me about the one thing we'd never been able to talk about. I'd been able to tell Annabeth that I loved Nico – more than once, even if it _had_ taken her yelling at me to get me to admit it the first time. But she'd never been able to tell me how she felt about Luke.

I found myself following her over to the window, standing just behind her. "Annabeth, look. I – " I wasn't even sure what I could say to her – nothing I said would make it any better, and I already knew how much both Luke and I had hurt her.

But as it turns out, I never got the chance to go on. The electronic lock on the door whirred, and Annabeth and I whipped around to see Thalia enter the room, the entirety of the Hunters following after. I sprung back from Annabeth, feeling stupid even though it wasn't like I had been about to do anything – maybe hug her, but we were friends and it was okay to do stuff like that. But I didn't want the Hunters to see it, because they were so anti-boy-crazy that they'd have probably shot my head off right then and there for even hugging another girl or something. Seriously, you never knew with them.

Annabeth just swallowed thickly and took a seat on the bed as I ended up standing awkwardly by the window. The Hunters weren't an overly large group, but the room was small enough that with all of them crammed in there it was a bit crowded. Thalia stayed by the door in the small entryway as the rest of the girls filled up the room in front of her. Most of them didn't even spare me a second look; they were all focused on Thalia.

"Okay, this is the deal," Thalia said, addressing the Hunters like she'd been born to be their leader. She really had taken well to it, I thought, even if she'd only been with them for a year. Thalia had made a hard decision, in passing the prophecy on to me (and, well, Nico), but maybe she really had made the right decision in the end. "We need to get to Mount Tam, and we need to get there now."

She paused, glancing at me like she wanted to make sure it was okay to go on. I just nodded. It was better that she explain things to the Hunters – they'd listen to her. I still didn't know quite what she was planning, but I would hear her out, too.

"Nico is on his way there, and he might be trying to take on Kronos by himself." To her credit – and my profound relief – she didn't even mention the second option. _Good_, I thought. _Because it's really _not_ an option. Nico's on our side. He's not going to join the Titan. I know it._

"Percy, Annabeth, and I are going on alone," Thalia continued. "We'll take Mrs. O'Leary. The rest of you can follow us, but a small party will be much faster than a big one." She glanced at me. "I know Mrs. O'Leary probably can't shadow travel with three passengers, but I think that with Artemis' help she'll be able to get us there a lot faster than we've been moving so far. Maybe even by the end of the day."

I found myself nodding. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't the worst option, either. Getting across most of the US in a day was pretty impressive – I just didn't know if it would be impressive enough.

What I really wanted to do was just take Mrs. O'Leary and go – I could be there in a lot less time, and sure she'd be too tired to move by the time we got there, but I could worry about that later. I wanted to be by Nico's side _now_. But taking Annabeth and Thalia really _wasn't_ a bad idea – especially if it came down to standing by Nico's side as he tried to take down Kronos then and there.

If not... well, then I would have to get them out of the way. I didn't want them involved in any of this, not if I could help it. I was willing to stand by Nico's side, no matter what that meant. But I wasn't willing to sacrifice my friends' lives to do it.

That's when it hit me – the realization that if I _did_ really mean what I'd told myself, that I would go to Kronos' side for Nico, then it could mean that a lot of horrible things would happen. Maybe the Titan really did just want a new regime, a new balance of power and he would leave everything else alone. But maybe, my mind whispered, he wouldn't. Maybe he would want every half-blood and mortal dead. What would I do then? What if he asked me to kill my friends? What if _Nico_ asked me to kill my friends?

That was a choice I didn't know if I could make. Love and friendship were different, sure – but they were also not so different, when you thought about it. Maybe Annabeth was right, and I'd been walking around in a Nico-worshipping bubble for the past two months, but that didn't mean I thought that I could live without my friends. Nico was pretty much my whole world, but what about Annabeth? What about Grover and Tyson, and Chiron and Thalia? What about my mom?

I shook my head, trying to clear it of all the thoughts that I really didn't want to hear. If Nico really had gone to Kronos' side, it couldn't possibly be final. Thalia was wrong – I knew that I could reason with Nico. I knew that if I only had the chance to talk to him, I'd be able to get him to see reason. He'd listen to me. He _had_ to.

I realized that I'd missed the rest of Thalia's speech, but no one else seemed to have noticed. The Hunters were all nodding, looking around at me and Annabeth somewhat grudgingly but no one said anything. Thalia stepped out of the entryway and the Hunters began filing out, presumably going back to their own rooms. Thalia glanced at me, tilting her head across the hallway to my door.

"Go pack your things," she said, holding the door open. "Come back here when you're ready, and we'll wake Mrs. O'Leary and get going."

I nodded, glancing at Annabeth one last time before I headed out of the room and across the hall, sliding my key into the slot and pushing the door open when the lock clicked.

The room was dark as I stepped inside – I didn't remember the curtains being shut all the way. The door clicked shut behind me, and that was when a hand shot out of the darkness, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt and pulling me farther into the room.

"Agh!" I cried wordlessly, but then a second hand slapped itself over my mouth. It smelled like rust.

A voice hissed right in my ear. "Shhh! It's just me. Geez, I though you'd never come back."

That voice – I knew that voice. I knew it better than I knew my own.

I twisted my neck to get my mouth free of the hand. "_Nico_?"

His face appeared before mine, dark eyes almost glowing as they looked into mine. "Yeah?"

"_Fuck_." I didn't have time to think or say anything else – I just got my hands under control and fisted in his shirt, and then I slammed him up against the wall and kissed him for all I was worth.

Nico went slack after about half a second and he started kissing back, his hands roaming up and down my back and over the pockets of my jeans.

I eventually managed to pull myself away, my brain starting to catch on to what was really going on here. "Where did you _go_?" I demanded, staring at the outline of his face in the dark. "I tried sending you Iris messages and you didn't answer! Nico, I didn't mean to – " Then I stopped, frowning.

"What's that on your face?" I reached out, touching the dark smudge on his cheek. It was hard to see with the room so dark, so I fumbled behind me in the entryway for the light switch.

We both flinched as the fluorescent bulb popped on, and then I blinked and tried to focus on Nico's face. There were rusty brown smudges on his cheek and nose, like he'd wiped his hand over them. I looked down and realized that his hands and shirt had smudges on them as well. I swallowed, remembering the way his hand had smelled – metallic and rusty, like...

"Nico, is that _blood_?"

Nico glanced down at himself, then back up at me and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. I can explain, though. That's why I'm here. Come on." One hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me back towards the corner between the bathroom wall and the bed, where it was darkest.

Just then I heard someone knocking on the door and Annabeth's voice, muffled, calling, "Hey, Percy! Are you ready yet?"

I glanced at Nico, my eyes going wide, before looking back at the door. "Wait, Nico! Anna– "

"– beth!" I finished, as we tumbled out of the shadows and into the cool black marble of Kronos' fortress on top of Mount Tam. It was exactly the same as I remembered it – floor and statues made of reflective black marble, two bronze braziers on either side of a dais. On the dais, just where it had been before, was the golden sarcophagus of Kronos.

I felt like my eyes were bugging out of my head, as I whipped my face in every direction trying to determine if we'd been seen. "Nico!" I hissed, tugging at the arm he was still holding. "What are you _doing_? I know you think you can take on Kronos alone but – "

"Whoa, slow down," Nico said, his voice loud and echoing in the empty chamber. "There's no one here – at least, not anymore."

I stared at him, straightening. He _was_ right – or, at least, it sure seemed that way. The place looked deserted. "How do you know?" I asked, my free hand already reaching into my pocket for my pen. "And why were you headed here in the first place?"

Nico finally let me go, shoving his hands nonchalantly into his pockets instead. I noticed that he didn't even have his sword with him. "I know because I just came from here," he said. "And if you give me a second to show you, I'm sure you'll get the answer to your other question."

He turned, beckoning me towards the sarcophagus. I won't lie – I really didn't want to get near that thing ever again. It was covered with carvings depicting elaborate scenes of death and destruction, and the last time I'd seen it, it had held the new form of the Titan lord Kronos – Luke Castellan's body. So you can understand why I was a bit wary now, but Nico walked right up to it – and then past it.

He turned, beckoning to me almost impatiently. "Over here," he said, pointing to the floor. "See?"

As I came around the side of the dais to stand next to Nico, I caught sight of what was lying on the ground where he was pointing. And then for a solid minute I couldn't think anything at all. I just stared. And blinked. And stared some more.

Nico's face swam into view as he leaned over to look at me. Now he was frowning just a little – actually, if you'd asked me how I would've described it just then, I would've said he was pouting. "Well, aren't you gonna tell me how awesome I am?" he asked, in that joking-but-totally-serious-sounding way that only he could manage.

But I could say nothing of the sort. I was still totally dumbstruck, trying to process what I was seeing. In the end, all I could say was, "Is that…"

Nico sighed and shifted to the side again, sweeping his hand dramatically toward the body on the floor. "Yeah. Kronos. Well, Kronos in Luke's body. Either way, he's dead. Totally, completely dead. Believe me, I know." He turned back to me. "So. Mission accomplished. Go me."

The part of my brain that had finally started to process things again had to admit that he _was_ right. The body was still there on the black marble floor when I looked a second time. Luke's body – sandy blonde hair and the horrible white scar down his face and Nico's Stygian iron sword through his heart.

I swallowed. It suddenly felt like I had a lump in my throat the size of Texas. I wasn't sure if I was feeling ecstatic or terrified. Maybe both. I couldn't even tell you why. "You... you killed him?" I choked out.

"Yes," Nico said, starting to sound a little bit exasperated. "We've established that." He stepped back in front of me, blocking my view of the body so that it was filled with Nico's face insead. "So now the war's over, right? Stuff can go back to normal and we can be together and no one will care because I saved the world and all that stuff." He reached out, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I just blinked at him. Well sure, that was the uber-oversimplified version, if you wanted to look at it that way. Kronos was dead, the prophecy was fulfilled, Nico was the savior of Olympus and the gods would be pleased and it was okay that he'd killed Silena because she had been trying to sell us out.

But was it really all so _simple_? I mean, okay. Let's say for a minute that this was exactly what it looked like – that Nico had somehow succeeded in taking on Kronos and winning. I could almost give him that, because maybe that really did make the earthquake I'd seen on the news this morning make sense. So the Titan was dead, and the threat to Olympus was gone. He'd fulfilled the prophecy. We could all go back to being normal kids – well, normal half-blood kids, at least.

But there was still the fact that Nico had left camp in the first place. And there were still the blackouts and right here and now he sounded… well, just a little crazy. Maybe he was still pumped up with adrenaline from the fight, but he sounded _off_, somehow. Exasperation with my brain's inability to comprehend things aside, he sounded way too _happy_.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Nico being happy. Especially not after the past couple of weeks, and not after the way he'd looked and sounded the last time I had seen him. But I'd never heard him sound like _this_ before – he honestly sounded like he was high or something – like nothing could touch him ever again. Like the best thing in the world had just happened to him and he wanted to share.

But maybe, I realized, it had. I mean, _he'd killed Kronos_. I was standing here right next to him and there was Luke's body on the floor, and even if I hadn't been willing to take Nico's word for it (which I was), I had enough of Nico's sense for death to tell that yes, he was dead. There was no soul in that body, Luke's or otherwise. It had passed on – hopefully, I thought, back to Tartarus where it belonged.

"And you're okay?" I heard myself asking, even though I realized it was probably the stupidest question ever. "Nico, the last time I saw you, you'd just... you ran off without giving me a chance to help. I've been really worried."

Nico shrugged. "Look, it was complicated. There was stuff I couldn't tell you. But," he said, the lilt in his voice coming back as his expression brightened, "now I can tell you everything. Now it'll all make sense."

Of course I was willing to hear him out. Part of me started to relax, despite the utter shock of the situation. Maybe things really would make sense now. I'd been willing to follow Nico to the enemy's side, after all. Certainly I could follow him when he'd just pretty much saved the world.

There was still that sense of things being _off_, but maybe I was just worried that this was too good to be true. I admit that I was almost afraid to let myself believe that maybe, just maybe, this entire nightmare was over.

The last of my worry must have shown on my face, because Nico just sighed affectionately and shook his head a little. "Come on, Percy," he said, shifting his fingers from my hips to my hands. "Don't you see?" He was grinning from ear to ear, and I still wasn't sure if the feeling in my gut was elation or fear. "Now that Luke is dead, everything will change."


	14. Ch 13: Behind the Door

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 13: Behind the Door**

_Lay beside me, under wicked sky  
Black of day, dark of night, we share this pair of lives  
The door cracks open, but there's no sun shining through  
Black heart scarring darker still, but there's no sun shining through_

- The Unforgiven II (Metallica)

I might have been the first person on the scene, but it didn't stay that way for long. Only seconds after Nico had spoken, I blinked and suddenly there was another person in the hall with us. Or, rather, not so much a person as a god.

I recognized the salt-and-pepper hair and the running shorts instantly. I had met this god before. So had Nico. It was Hermes, the messenger of the gods – and also Luke's father.

Nico turned, dropping my hands as Hermes looked at the two of us. His eyes were dark and there was no grin on his elfish features. I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all, but given the body on the floor beside us… I could make an educated guess.

"Percy," he said quietly, by way of greeting. He tilted his head towards me, then Nico. "Nico."

Then the god turned and knelt beside the body of his son, looking down into eyes that could no longer look back at him. I realized belatedly that Luke's eyes were no longer gold – they were dull blue, unseeing. I felt like we were intruding on something private as Hermes reached out a hand, closing Luke's eyes as he bent his head over the body. He mumbled something I couldn't quite make out, and then he stood up again and looked at us. His cell phone beeped inside the pocket of his nylon running shorts, but for once Hermes ignored it.

"Mr. di Angelo," he said, holding out one hand – which was now holding Nico's sword, though I hadn't seen him pull it from the body. "Your weapon." There was no blood, not really – what little there was looked so dark it was black, pooling sluggishly around the wound in Luke's chest. Honestly, most of it was probably smeared all over Nico.

Nico took the sword silently, watching the god carefully. Despite the fact that he'd been oddly excited and energetic only a couple of minutes ago, he was silent and solemn now – but then again, I suppose if anyone knew what the death of a family member was like, it was Nico. And even he knew better than to rub Luke's death in the face of his father, especially when said father could have burned him to cinders on the spot. I was glad that babbling-weird-Nico at least had that much sense – it meant he'd be around long enough for me to try to talk some real sense into him later. Because we definitely still had a lot to talk about.

As Nico slid his sword through his belt, Hermes picked up the body of his son, cradling it to his chest like Luke was a much smaller boy and Hermes was simply putting him to bed. It was a weird image, and one that made my stomach turn sour. I knew Luke had never seen eye to eye with his father, and they hadn't parted on the most amicable of terms. And even though Hermes had never openly expressed his regret, I'd seen it before, in his eyes. I could see it again, now. I remembered him telling me that family was family, and that sometimes you had to accept your family no matter what they did. Now, after everything that had happened the past couple of days, I was really starting to understand that even better than before.

"Um," I said, my voice sounding small and uncertain in the giant black marble hall. I coughed a little, trying to clear my throat. I glanced at Nico, then at Hermes, daring to ask, "So, uh… now what?"

"I suppose we ought to get to Olympus," Hermes said, offering us a wan smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I believe the gods would like an audience with their hero."

Hermes began to glow, his body growing brighter and brighter until I had to shield my eyes and look away, afraid that if I kept looking I'd be killed by the manifestation of the god's true being. When the light had faded from behind my lids and I dared to blink them open, I realized we weren't standing in the black marble hall on Mount Tam any longer. Now we were standing in its exact opposite – the white marble halls of Olympus.

In fact, we were just outside the throne room of the gods – I knew because I'd stood in this courtyard before. I looked up at the giant double doors before us, then over to Hermes, who had appeared beside us. I reached over almost unconsciously, taking Nico's hand. His palm felt dry and cool against mine. "Okay," I said, glancing at Nico. "Let's do this."

But Hermes was shaking his head, even as he held the body of Luke close to his chest. "I'm sorry, Percy," he said, "but this is something Nico will have to do alone."

I frowned. What was this – some kind of test? Did they still not trust him, even after everything he'd done? "Why?" I asked, because it didn't really make sense. "I mean, I'm not trying to claim any of the credit. Can't I just go in with him? I'll be quiet."

But it was Nico who answered me, pulling his hand out of mine. When I looked over at him, he just tilted his head at me and grinned, his eyes dark. "Don't worry, Percy. I'll be fine. I'm not afraid of them."

"I didn't say you were," I said, still worried. "But I just don't see why –"

"I'll be _fine_," Nico said again, his voice a little more firm. He seemed to hesitate for just a fraction of a second before he stepped in close and reached up for my face, one hand slipping around to the back of my head as he brought our mouths together for a long, intimate kiss. It was the kind of kiss that made the world drop away around us – even the halls of Olympus couldn't compete with Nico right then. I could taste him long after he'd pulled away, and I just stood blinking at him as he stepped back.

"I'll be right back," he said, his tone just a little playful. "Don't think I'll forget about you. Okay?"

"Yeah," I said, swallowing thickly as my eyes darted over to Hermes, but he didn't seem to have anything to say about what he'd just seen. I guessed it wasn't really a secret or anything anymore, me and Nico being together, but I wasn't sure how I felt about making out right in front of Hermes. I'd felt pretty weird trying to kiss some sense into Nico in the Underworld in front of his dad, too – but that had been totally different circumstances in the first place. I tried to get my brain back into the moment long enough to reply, "Okay."

Hermes nodded, and the doors to the throne room swung open. Together Nico and Hermes walked through them; beyond I could just see Zeus and my dad, Poseidon, sitting at the far end of the room. Their eyes were on Nico was he walked through the doorway.

Just as the doors swung shut behind him, I thought I saw something fall from Nico's pocket. It half-bounced, half-rolled along the floor, clinking quietly like metal on stone. For a second I thought it looked like one of his Mythomagic figures – the little metal statue of Hades – but I was pretty sure he didn't carry those around with him anymore. Before I could make a grab for it, whatever it was rolled into the shadows behind one of the pillars at the edge of the courtyard. Frowning, I went after it – but even though I circled the pillar twice, I couldn't find what he'd dropped. I did one more trip around the pillar, glancing into the corner of the courtyard in case it had bounced at a weird angle, but there was nothing. Finally I gave up, trudging back over to the doors that were still shut, separating me from everything that was going on inside.

Not long after that was when the first clap of thunder hit.

Actually, "clap of thunder" doesn't really begin to describe it. It felt like the building was shaking apart under my feet, like I'd been standing half a foot away from something that had just exploded. The hair on my arms stood up and the torches lighting the courtyard around me all flickered in unison.

At first I thought maybe they were just having an argument in there – it was no secret that Hades and Zeus didn't exactly get along, and I was sure Zeus wouldn't be to happy accepting the son of his least favorite brother as the hero who'd saved Olympus. But there was no way Zeus could argue against the evidence I'd seen: Luke was dead, Kronos was gone, and Nico had done it. That made him a hero, no questions asked, and no matter how much Zeus didn't like it, he couldn't make it not true.

But then the building shook again, this time sending a few small chunks of rock tumbling down from the enormous doorframe. I had to hop out of the way to keep from getting beaned with a fist-sized chunk of marble. That was when I started to get really worried – I mean, there were arguments, and there were _arguments_. And this was starting to go past argument altogether into full-scale war. And I was not okay with that. Not when Nico was in there with them.

I couldn't really hear anything beyond the doors, but the tiles beneath my feet had started vibrating, like someone was driving a truck nearby. I pounded my fists on the door as loudly as I could, but no one seemed to notice. Given the large number of thunderclaps that had started going off all around me, I can't say I was exactly surprised.

I searched frantically for a handle or some other way to open the doors. I even tried kicking them, but all it got me was a stubbed toe. There was no way in – and no way out. I didn't know what to do. All I knew was that something was very, very wrong in there. And I had to get in.

In my desperation, I pulled out Riptide and tossed the cap aside, trying to wedge the blade in between the doors and pry them open. It was a dumb idea, made even dumber by the fact that I was standing right underneath the archway when the next big thunderclap hit, sending a few more pieces of rock raining down towards me. This time, I didn't manage to get out of the way in time.

Something hard and sharp hit me on the top of my head, making my teeth slam together as my vision fizzled out for a minute. I must have stumbled backwards – I suddenly blinked and found myself sitting on my butt with Riptide lying a few feet away on the floor. I could have blacked out for a second or ten minutes; I couldn't tell. I felt dazed, confused, and when something warm trickled down the back of my neck I put my hand there and it came away red.

It was then that I realized the thunder had stopped. The floor wasn't shaking underneath me any longer, and everything seemed to have gone quiet inside the throne room. I managed to clumsily get to my feet, pulling Riptide off the floor. I approached the door, planning to try banging on it once more. Every step I took sent a spike of pain up the back of my neck and I was probably staggering like I was drunk, but I figured I could worry about my head later. Nico came first.

But before I could even raise my hand, the doors suddenly parted. The swung out towards me and I had to jump back again, almost losing my balance. When the world had stopped tilting crazily and I could stand properly upright once more, I tried to make out what had happened in the hall beyond.

Inside, it looked like all hell had broken loose. And I do mean that quite literally. The floor was cracked from side to side, a wide chasm running the full length of the room. Everywhere the white marble was broken, and pieces of deep black rock had erupted violently through the floor every couple of feet.

The U-shape of thrones was almost unrecognizable – the pillars behind them were toppled and the giant thrones lay broken in pieces. Some had been split apart by walls of rock that had thrust through the floor beneath them. Others looked like they had been blown to pieces, or ripped apart by teeth the size of my forearm. There were piles of bones everywhere, like a whole army of skeletons had just stopped in their tracks and collapsed. And in the corners of the room there were large shadows that shouldn't have been there. They were hulking, dark, and they _moved_.

I held Riptide unsteadily in front of me, every instinct in my body screaming at me to run despite the pain in my head. I had to blink furiously to try and keep my vision clear – white fog kept creeping in around the edges, and I honestly didn't know how long I could keep fighting unconsciousness. If I hadn't blacked out properly before, I was about to do it very shortly. I really wasn't sure how much choice I'd have in the matter.

But I had to make sure Nico was okay first. I scanned the ruined throne room frantically for him, my eyes darting almost too fast for my brain to follow. The huge central hearth pit in the center of the room had been split in two as well, but the flame was still burning sluggishly. Orange-red tails of fire licked up and down the sides, like they were trying to escape but didn't know where to go.

Then I blinked, because I must have been hallucinating. Inside the flames, I thought I saw the image of a girl – she couldn't have been more than eight years old, with mousy brown hair and a plain brown dress. There was a scarf wrapped around her head, like people wore in stuff like _Little House of the Prairie_ or something. From inside the fire she looked up and right at me. Her eyes were deep red, like the flames. She opened her mouth, and although nothing came out, I heard the word ringing inside my head as clearly as if she'd shouted it from right beside my ear. _Run!_

I should have thrown myself into the elevator right then and taken it straight to the first floor of the Empire State Building below. That would have been the smart thing to do, but as Annabeth will gladly tell you, I'm not always the smartest guy around. Especially when it comes to supposedly smart ideas that really mean I'd be leaving my boyfriend behind. Because there was absolutely no way I was going to do that.

Every inch of my skin was crawling. I blinked my eyes rapidly and tried to focus on the girl in the flames again. But she was gone – maybe she hadn't been there in the first place. There was no way to tell.

But then, from just behind the hearth, one of the shadows thinned and solidified, until the smoke drifted away and I could recognize the figure in black standing in the middle of the room.

"Nico?" I croaked.

He looked at me, his face totally blank for a minute. There was something wrong with his face...

Then he broke out into a wide smile, and either he shadow traveled or I was starting to lose it because the next thing I knew, he was standing right beside me. "I'm sorry," he said, in a voice that sounded like metal scraping over gravel, and when I looked up into his eyes, I realized what was wrong. His eyes were no longer dark. They were _gold_. "He's not here right now. But if you'd like to leave a message... well, he probably won't get that, either."

--

It was really pretty lame, I thought much later, getting taken out by a piece of rock when I'd been locked outside the actual battle. I woke slowly, my head throbbing in time with my heart. It felt like I had a lump back there the size of my fist. But despite the pain, the bed I was lying on had to be the most comfortable one I'd ever slept on in my life – better than the luxurious beds at the Lotus Casino, even. The sheets felt like they were made of air, and the pillow and mattress molded to my body perfectly.

The room I was in was made of white marble with silver trim, and there was a pair of gauzy curtains framing the single window. The entire picturesque image was ruined by the fact that just beyond the curtains, the view of Olympus showed it in darkness and ruin.

I felt my stomach drop as I rolled to my side, trying to sit up in the endlessly fluffy bed. There was a glass on the bedside table, filled with what looked like my mom's famous blue lemonade – complete with a lemon wedge and tinkling ice. I didn't trust it.

It was then that I realized there was someone standing at the door – well, more like leaning on the doorframe. He was tall and thin and his shadow stretched across the floor, ending just at the foot of the bed. When I looked up into his face, a wave of nausea hit me that had nothing to do with the blow I'd taken to the head, and everything to do with the fact that the face _looked_ like Nico's, but the _thing_ looking at me from behind the wrong-colored eyes... it wasn't Nico. It was pure evil.

I struggled into a sitting position and put my feet – bare, I realized (where were my shoes?) on the cold marble floor. I was still wearing my clothes, at least. And Riptide was still in my pocket. I stood, my hand automatically going for my pen.

But then I stopped. What was I going to do with it? How could I point my sword at Nico?

"Ah, you're awake," he said cheerfully, stepping into the room. The sound of his voice made me cringe. A voice like that shouldn't be coming out of Nico. It didn't sound human. He tilted his head, clucking his tongue softly. "But you shouldn't be out of bed yet, Percy. You need your rest." He waved his hand to the glass on the bedside table. "You ought to drink your nectar."

But I just stood there, frozen. My brain was having a hard time reconciling Nico's face with that voice and those eyes, and that wasn't the only part of me. My heart felt like someone had it in a vise, slowly crushing it until it had to struggle just to beat. I didn't know what had happened, but I did know that things must have gone very wrong. Somehow Nico had gone into the throne room of the gods, but he hadn't come back out again. I might not have wanted to believe it, but there was only one explanation for what I was seeing and hearing now.

_Kronos_, I thought, and my heart sank all the way down to the city below, and then probably into the sewer for good measure. _Kronos is inside Nico now._

After a moment, when I hadn't immediately picked up the glass and drunk whatever was in it, Nico's face twisted into a scowl and his golden eyes flashed. "Didn't you hear me? You will do as I say, Percy Jackson."

But I didn't know _what_ to do. All I knew was that I felt sick at the thought of Kronos inside Nico and that at that moment, I had begun to really and truly hate Kronos with all of my heart. And the more I thought about that, the angrier I got. Something hot and sharp began to uncoil in my stomach. I could barely think straight anymore. I wanted more than anything to slash at him, to hurt Kronos – kill him. I could do it right now –

But I _couldn't_, because if I did that then I would be killing Nico. The thought of it made me feel even more sick with anger. How could Kronos do something so _cowardly_ as to hide behind the one thing he knew I wouldn't hurt? How _dare_ he?

It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life, but I stood my ground and stared him down. Honestly, it was almost easier than I'd thought – all I had to do was look at those eyes and I _knew_ that I wasn't dealing with Nico, no matter what the rest of him looked like. The way he held himself and the way he spoke and most of all the way he _looked_ at me told me that this was not the boy I'd fallen in love with. This was an imposter wearing his skin.

I reached out and swatted the glass, sending it crashing to the floor. It shattered on impact, blue liquid and ice cubes and shards of glass spraying everywhere. "Give me Nico back," I said, my voice sounding surprisingly steady even to me. The heat in my stomach flared, feeding me more anger. "Give him back and then I'm going to kill you."

There was utter silence in the room. I could count the sound of my heartbeat, ten, twenty...

And then Kronos began to laugh. He threw his head back and laughed, and the way it looked and sounded so wrong coming out of the boy I loved... It made me so angry that the heat suddenly took over and all I saw was red and the next thing I knew, I was standing two feet away from him with Riptide gleaming in the hollow of his throat.

But then I came back to myself and as Kronos looked down the blade at me, and even though his eyes were gold I could still see _Nico_ in them –

I'd dropped the sword before I even felt my hands let go. I backed away as the hot anger vanished; instead it felt like I'd swallowed a chunk of Stygian ice and now the cold was spreading from the inside out. My head hurt, and my heart hurt, and I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare. I wanted everything to be okay. I wanted Kronos to be dead and Nico to be a hero and I just wanted to go home and fall into bed with him and never, ever get up.

"What did you do?" I heard myself whispering, even as the back of my knees hit the edge of the bed and I sat down, hard. "How did you do this? I saw Luke's body. Kronos should have died with him."

Nico's face twisted into a sneer as he kicked my sword across the room with one black boot. "You saw Luke's body, yes," he said. "But did you really think that it was my plan to die with it?"

I remembered what Nico had told me, those first few nights after he'd shown up on the fire escape outside my window in New York. He'd said that Kronos was burning through Luke's soul, that he'd burn through Luke completely someday and then he'd need a new body. And I remembered what he'd told me in Boston, when he'd rescued me and told me that Kronos had made him an offer, saying that if only he could get ahold of Nico's body...

It must have happened when Nico killed Luke. That was the only explanation I could come up with – that the Titan had known his body was dying and somehow leaped from one to the other even as Nico had run Luke through with his sword. "You lured Nico to Mount Tam just to switch into his body!" I accused. "You let him kill Luke and then you took over his body, instead!"

But the smug smile on his face as he started shaking his head made me turn even colder than before. "You're every bit as naive as I thought you were. I suppose in a way you're half-right, Percy Jackson. But there is so much more to it than that."

I frowned, feeling more uncomfortable by the second (and that was pretty impressive, given how I already felt). "What do you mean?" I asked warily. What else could there be?

He laughed again. "I've been controlling Nico for so much longer than you think. In fact, he himself opened the door to allow me inside, weeks ago."

What? Nico had _let_ Kronos in weeks ago? But how? He told me he'd turned Kronos down back in Boston, and I still believed him. I knew that he wouldn't have willingly let the Titan use his body. There must be more to it than that. I had to find out what had really happened. "When?"

The smile didn't falter. "When that insipid little upstart thought he could take Luke's soul from his body. He may have let part of Luke go, but he also gave me the perfect opportunity for me to gain my foothold in my new body, as well." He spread his hands, as if to show off just what a fine specimen Nico really was. (All previous thoughts about how hot my boyfriend was aside, the gesture made me feel like I was going to be sick.)

"I had you fooled," he grinned as he went on, obviously more than a little pleased with himself. He sauntered towards me, leaning over so that I had to scramble back on the bed. But he followed, crawling over me so that I ended up on my back with both of his hands planted on either side of my head. It felt so _wrong_. "All I had to do was give Nico control every once in a while, and he'd get scared and go running to you and you'd be convinced there was no way he could be doing any of it," he said, his face way too close to mine. "And anytime I saw you start to worry, all I had to do was stick my hand down your pants and you completely forgot about it." One hand slid down my chest, towards the inside of my thigh. "Or had you forgotten just how much you liked that part of it?"

I started up at him in horror – because of course I remembered the (large) number of times Nico had seemed incredibly insistent on sex. And of course I'd gone along with it – I was a teenage guy and I had a really hot boyfriend. There was no way I was going to turn him down.

But it _hadn't_ been my boyfriend. And even though it was Nico's body on top of mine right now, and Nico's face so close to my own, this really, really wasn't Nico and my brain was finally starting to realize it. The way he was touching me suddenly made me sick, and it was enough to kickstart my brain into gear. I pushed myself up, shoving Kronos off of me.

He slid back onto his feet like he'd meant to do it, crossing his arms lazily over his chest. I stayed on the bed, watching him warily and trying to figure out just what all of this meant. If Kronos had been inside Nico since Boston, then how much of the time since then had I been talking to Nico? How much of it had I been talking to Kronos? If he'd been giving Nico control sometimes...

Suddenly the blackouts were starting to make a disturbing about of sense. "You were the one who attacked Michael. And you made Nico kill Silena," I said, coming to a horrific conclusion. "Was she even your spy, then? Or did you set that whole thing up, too?" The thought that Silena might have died only as a distraction was enough to make me angry all over again.

"Oh, she was a spy," Kronos told me. "But she was having second thoughts, soft-hearted daughter of Aphrodite that she was. I knew I would have to kill her once she'd outlived her usefulness." He smirked down at me. "It was just so convenient that I was able to use Nico's body to do it."

Some of the hot anger was starting to come back to life inside of me. The thought that he had used so many people, hurt so many people, just to take down the gods on Olympus because he was bitter and wanted revenge... "He's not your _tool_," I growled, standing up again as my hands balled into fists. But I knew that even if I hit him, it wouldn't do any good.

"Oh, but he is," Kronos said. "And by the end it was simple to get him to leave and come to me on Mount Tam, where he could kill Luke's body and reunite the small piece of my soul left inside of it with the rest residing in him." He stood back, spreading his arms once more. "And now that I am whole, and we are one, I was able to finally fulfill that prophecy which you all seemed to take so much stock in. A sixteen year-old son of Hades has become the instrument of the gods' destruction!"

Suddenly I realized there was still a giant piece of the puzzle that I was missing – and that I was sitting right in the middle of it. I'd been so fixated on Nico that I hadn't even stopped to think about _how_ Kronos had used him to destroy the gods. In fact, it should have been impossible. They were at their strongest here, in the seat of their power – and yet the doors to the throne room had opened and it had been utterly destroyed. There had been no sign of the gods, and Olympus was in ruins just beyond my window. "But how?" I had to ask. "How could you have defeated them, even with just Nico alone?"

"Ah, but he _wasn't_ alone." Kronos looked down at one hand, flexing his fingers as he smiled back up at me. "The reasons I had for wanting this body were many. You may have noticed its ability to travel through shadows and control the legions of Hades' army."

Yes, I _had_ noticed that Nico could shadow travel. And I'd seen him control armies of the dead. He'd told me that Kronos had wanted that power for himself – and that Kronos had been convinced that he could use Nico to make himself invincible, untouchable even by death.

But none of that explained how he'd beaten the gods, or why controlling the dead was such a great thing, unless... "You brought an army to Olympus?" Seriously, I hadn't noticed any army. At least, not from outside the throne room –

But then I remembered what it had looked like inside. The rock, the piles of bones everywhere, the dark shapes moving in the shadows...

Kronos must have seen my eyes widen as I realized it. The smile turned into a grin. "It was all too easy, to let them bring me right into the heart of their fortress and unleash an army upon them from the inside out. I had troops waiting throughout the Underworld, needing only my signal to move."

"The Mythomagic figure," I said, as I realized that I _had_ seen something fall from his pocket – and then disappear into the shadows. He must have found a way to send it to the Underworld through shadow travel, using it to signal when he was inside the throne room. "You sent it to tell them when to move."

"Marvelous," he said, clapping his hands together, grinning at me. "I must admit that Nico was right – you really _are_ smarter than you look."

But then in an instant he turned serious again, his features going slack as he looked with those golden eyes right into mine. "And so I am going to give you a choice, Percy Jackson. And you'd do best to think on it, and think well." He spread one arm in the direction of the window, indicating the ruins of Olmpus just beyond. "Now that I have claimed the world that is so rightfully mine, I will need loyal servants with power of their own to help me rule it." He stepped close to me, his face inches from mine. "You may rule by my side as the most powerful demigod ever known, or you may rot in Tartarus with your powerless gods and the rest of your filthy brethren." He smiled then, and his eyes sparkled gold and _wrong_ in Nico's pale face. "You may stand by Nico's side, or you may rot in hell forever. I leave that decision completely up to you."


	15. Ch 14: Bury My Lovely

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 14: Bury My Lovely**

_Cover the madness, cover the fear  
No one will ever know you were here  
A figure in the hallway light,  
Returning like a ghost  
Something that was left behind  
Something in a child's mind_

- Bury My Lovely (October Project)

So that was it. Kronos left me alone in the room, with only a pair of _dracaenae_ guards and the view of the Olympian ruins while I made my decision. Of course, I wasn't sure how exactly I was supposed to do that. My mind was in a million places at once, and all the while threatening to shut down completely at any second.

I suppose I could have run, maybe tried to climb out the window and escape. But where could I go? The gods were gone – supposedly banished to Tartarus – but what about their children? Was Camp Half-Blood safe? What about the regular mortals living their lives, oblivious to the existence of the gods? What about Rachel? What about my _mom_? I didn't know how long I had been unconscious. Anything could have happened while I was out – and it seemed the end of the world had. Or, at least, it had begun.

I didn't know what to do. Riptide had returned to my pocket, but its presence was anything but comforting. After all, what could I do with it? I knew I couldn't kill Kronos – because that meant I would have to kill _Nico_. And I couldn't do that.

All I knew was that there was no running from this. I had to face it somehow. Running just meant putting it off, and I knew that every moment I did that the chances of losing Nico completely just got greater. I didn't know if Nico was still in there with Kronos, but it was impossible for me to believe the alternative. Nico had said that Luke had still been in his body when Kronos had inhabited it, he just hadn't been in charge. Why would things be any different now? And besides, Nico had told me what Kronos had said when he'd made his offer in Boston. He'd said that together they'd be unstoppable, so I had to assume that meant he needed Nico's soul alive and intact. As long as Kronos needed Nico to be okay, then I had to believe that there was a way to get him out of there unscathed.

I just didn't know what it was. And that meant it wasn't an option right now, which left me with the two options I'd been given in the first place: stay, and become Kronos' right-hand man, or go, and rot in hell forever.

I stared out the window, not really seeing what was beyond it as my eyes unfocused, making me dizzy. I'd been willing to follow Nico to Kronos' side, so maybe this shouldn't be such a hard decision after all... but I knew that this was different. This wasn't Nico. And even though Nico had to be in there somewhere, I was pretty damn sure that none of this had been his choice. And I wasn't going to follow him down a road we were both going to regret. No, I was going to save him, and then we'd save everyone else together.

Except for the problem that I had no freaking idea how to do any of it. It made me hate Kronos, hate Luke, and I even kind of hated myself for not noticing sooner. If I hadn't been such a dumb stupid horny _teenager_, maybe I would've seen where the signs had been pointing. They'd been right there, after all. I just hadn't seen what they meant. What if Nico had been trying to tell me all along? What if I had just been too dumb to see? What if I had let him down all over again?

Honestly, I didn't know if I could take much more of this without exploding. I didn't know how long it would be before I just shut down completely so I wouldn't have to deal with this. I know being a hero is supposed to mean being brave and pushing forward no matter what, forsaking personal pain for the good of everyone else. But in reality, being a hero meant that there were times when I just felt like shutting down, and I was getting closer to the edge than I ever had before. Things had gone to hell in a matter of hours, with no warning, and how was I supposed to pick up the pieces?

I sat on the bed, closing my eyes and resting my forehead on my hands for a minute. I tried to breathe, to clear my mind, but it was next to impossible. I just couldn't see past the image of Nico's face, with Kronos' eyes looking out of it.

So I guess it's not exactly a surprise that I never saw the shadows stretch and lengthen, and I hadn't realized that they'd swallowed me whole until it had already happened. All I knew was that one second I was sitting on the bed in a room on Olympus, and the next I was falling through darkness with the familiar disorienting rush of shadow travel.

Seconds later I tumbled out of the shadows and onto dull grey dirt, my hands going forward in the dust to keep me from falling on my nose. When I looked up, everything around me was a misty grey except for the black blot of a palace that rose above me, a perfect dark mirror-image of Olympus above (or, at least, what it had used to look like). And standing over me, tall and thin and wearing black that matched his palace, was Hades himself.

"Percy Jackson," he said, looking down his long nose at me. "I would speak with you."

I blinked. Honestly, I was a little confused – or, rather, a whole lot confused. First off, "Weren't you... I mean, didn't you... uh. Kronos?" I managed, pointing one finger uncertainly at the cave ceiling that doubled as the sky in the Underworld (apparently to indicate the living world above. Yeah. Right.).

Hades rolled his eyes. "Yes," he replied, in a tone that was more than a little condescending. "Kronos." He paused, narrowing dark eyes as he looked down at me. "You do realize I'm not stupid. And neither is he."

I got to my feet, even though I still had to crane my neck back to look up at the god's face. Well, what was I supposed to say to that? "Uh... no." I wasn't quite sure where this conversation was going, except that... "But shouldn't you be, uh, in Tartarus? With the rest of the gods?" The thought of my dad – of Annabeth's mom, of _Zeus_ – trapped in that horrible place made me shiver. And as far as I knew, Hades should be there with them, not pulling me down to his palace for chats.

"No," Hades said matter-of-factly, "because I was the one who helped put them there."

I figured now was an appropriate time for my jaw to drop. "You _what_? But they're – "

Hades just sneered. "They're what? Gods? My _family_?" He wrinkled his nose in disgust (just, I realized, like Nico did when it was beef brisket day at camp). "I feel no obligations to them. Look at what they did to me!" He swept his hand across the barren landscape, and I supposed he almost did kind of have a point there – the Underworld wasn't exactly something anyone wanted to be in charge of. Pretty much everyone knew Hades had kind of gotten the crappy end of that deal.

But that was beside the point. I knew Hades hated his lot in eternal life – so what? How did that equal the right to trap the rest of the gods and step aside for an evil Titan lord to take over? How did that make _giving up his son_ okay? "So you just _let_ Kronos take over Nico and – and destroy Olympus? And you're okay with that?" Now some of the anger at Kronos and Luke and myself had divided even further, directing itself squarely at Hades and I wasn't sure I could stop myself from pulling out my sword and threatening him with it, even though I knew it would be pointless. All the same, it was pretty hard to keep my hand balled in a fist at my side, and not reaching into my pocket for Riptide. "How could you? How could you _do_ that to him?"

Hades just stood there and looked down at me coolly, like my angry words just hit a wall and rolled off with no effect, like beads of water off a raincoat. But something in his eyes grew darker. "There are lines that should not be crossed, and Nico has crossed them. And now he's paid the price. What would you have me do? Stand up to the Lord of Time himself when he waltzes into my realm and demands my allegiance or my destruction?"

"Well, why not?" I demanded. "You're a god – you're his _father_!"

"That means very little and you know it. I have had many children; I cannot favor them, even if _your_ foolish father decides to favor one of his." He waved a hand at me, dismissively. "I'm not so stupid as to take the losing side in a war when I see what's coming, Percy Jackson."

"So you made a bargain with Kronos, instead," I spat, feeling like I was just barely keeping the flames of anger from erupting from my skin like fire. I knew Hades loved to bargain but this was too far, even for him. Didn't he know what was at stake?

"Yes," Hades replied, "because he knew that when he took my son as his vessel, I would know what he had done. Luke Castellan's death would not go unnoticed, even as one in the tens of thousands each day. He needed to ensure my allegiance, or he needed me out of the way."

"So you chose to work for him," I said, clenching my teeth together to keep from yelling. "You let him use you and you let him use Nico." I hated him. The god of the dead and I had definitely never been best buddies – in fact, he pretty much had it in for me and I admit I was not looking forward to standing in line to await my final judgment. But that was all in the past – now I truly _hated_ Hades, just like I hated Kronos, for the way he used people and threw them away. For the way he had used Nico and the way that he had helped a Titan lock the gods in hell forever.

So what the god said next was pretty much a huge shock to me. "I chose to bide my time, boy, until I could strike at him by means of the only weapon I still possess that he does not. I chose to bank on the fact that you are not a sniveling little coward, but that you are a _hero_, worthy of the task to which I am about to appoint you."

I admit it – I stood there dumbstruck for at least a couple of seconds. "What?" A _hero_? What was he talking about? "You don't even like me."

"I don't," Hades agreed coldly, his dark eyes watching me with obvious disdain. "And I doubt I ever will. But this has nothing to do with how much or little I like you, and everything to do with how you are going to kill Nico."

"Excuse me," I said, because between the anger and the way Hades had just called me a hero, my brain had clearly shut down and was no longer processing language properly, "but I thought you just said that I was going to kill Nico."

Hades raised one perfect black eyebrow, like he thought I was the stupidest person alive (or dead). "I did," he said, "because you are."

"Okay, I'm sorry, but... _what_?" Because _no_. No, no, no. No a million times. _No_.

The god of the dead actually snorted. "Do you not realize the weight of what has happened here? I thought surely even you could acknowledge that one boy's life for so many must surely be worth the sacrifice."

Now, okay. It wasn't that I _couldn't_ appreciate that, because I could. I understood that sacrifices had to be made – I was a half-blood, I'd known that practically since I'd found out just who my father was and why people like me existed. But I refused – absolutely refused – to accept that Nico had to be one of those sacrifices. I'd lost him too many times already. The line had to be drawn, and it had to be drawn _here_. I was going to save him, and things were going to be okay. I didn't know how, but it was going to happen. I was betting my life and the lives of everyone I cared about on that, and I wasn't going to back down, not to Hades or to anyone. Not even when I felt like I had when I'd taken the weight of the world on my shoulders, literally. (Except maybe not, because I think right now I felt worse.)

"No," I said, feeling strangely perfectly calm now, "I'm not. He's – "

But that was where the calm broke down and I stopped, the words catching in my throat. I realized I didn't have the right word to name what he was. "He's..."

Hades sneered down at me. "What? Your boyfriend - your _lover_? How trite."

But it was _not_ trite. There just wasn't a word strong enough, as far was I was concerned. How could I sum up everything Nico was – the way he made it okay for me to breathe and think – into one simple word, or even a sentence? But still I tried to explain it in terms I knew the god would understand. "He's my life," I said quietly, looking at Hades' angry face. Because really, that was what it came down to. And Hades knew it – better than anybody else, in fact. "And you know that. I gave it to you already for him once."

"And what about Nico's life?" Hades asked me, without skipping a beat. "You were so very willing to give up your own, but could you give up _his_ life, Percy Jackson? For the good of the world you want to protect?"

"What? No," I said, shaking my head, because it shouldn't – couldn't – have to be that way. "He's still in there, just like Luke. He has to be. I just have to find a way – "

"My son is gone, Percy," Hades said, simple and flat and oh gods, he meant it. "He may be inside his body but he has been swallowed alive by the Titan's soul and there is no way to bring him back." He paused, his expression neutral and his eyes dark. "I know this beyond a doubt, and you would do best to accept it."

I didn't know how Hades knew, but it didn't matter. Even the word of a god wasn't enough for me. Not right now. "You're wrong!" I told him, throwing my arms apart. "You just don't know how to bring him back! That doesn't mean it's not possible. You've just given up on him like always. How can you throw him away and turn your back on him now?" I demanded, feeling the panic rise in my gut. "He's not dead!"

"He might as well be," Hades said coldly. "Because only in death will Kronos leave his body, and soon I doubt even that could drive him from it. We are running out of time, so I don't care whether you want to believe me or not. You have no choice."

_We_, I realized. He'd said 'we'. "So you're... not on Kronos' side?" I asked, completely sidestepping the issue of killing or not killing Nico for the moment. (Never mind the fact that I wasn't going to do it, of course.) "But you just said you made a deal with him."

"I made a deal," Hades confirmed, "and I swore it on the River Styx. Which is why I need _you_, Percy Jackson, to do what I cannot." He sighed. "I must admit that it disgusts me that Nico has chosen you as his partner and that he has given you such power because of it. But he has given you that power nonetheless, and that is the only reason you may wield the weapon it will take to kill him now."

Hades raised one arm and opened his hand. The mist around it began to swirl in a mini-whirlwind, spinning tighter and tighter until suddenly it wasn't a whirlwind anymore, but a sword that settled into the god's hand. It was a double-edged blade of black Stygian iron, with skeletal designs etched down the length in thin wisps of silver. But the really interesting thing about the sword was that it had no hilt – instead there was a spindly, ancient-looking golden key set into the base.

Somehow I couldn't tear my eyes off of it. "What is that?"

Hades glanced at the sword in his hand. "This is one of the keys of Hades."

I swallowed. "The keys of Hades?" I'd never heard of them, but obviously they were a big deal.

"They possess the power to lock or unlock death," the god explained. He hefted the sword, holding it with the air of someone used to wielding weapons, like it was an extension of his arm. "The wielder of this sword can raise the dead," he said, looking down at me. "Or they can use it to slay any living thing and send its soul directly to the Underworld."

I was starting to see where he was going with this. "Any living thing...." I swallowed again. "Like, even an immortal Titan lord?"

Hades simply nodded, bringing the sword back down to his side. "Even an immortal Titan lord. But only," he went on, "if the power in this key is stronger than the Titan's power over death. Each second Kronos is in my son's body brings him closer to a mastery over death that even this key cannot undo. Which is why," he said, turning the blade gracefully in his hand and offering it to me, key-first, "you must hurry before it is too late."

I found myself reaching for the sword, but before my fingers could touch the ancient key, Hades pulled his hand back and I grasped only air. "It is sacrilege that this blade has been forged in the first place, but that is of little consequence right now. You can do things the gods cannot; you can break the rules to which we are bound. I can give you the power to set Nico free, but you must swear to me that you will use it when the time comes." Hades bent down, looming over me until his dark eyes practically filled my field of view, hard and sharp but also a lot like Nico's – unnervingly a lot like Nico's. "Nico cannot be saved," Hades told me. "He can only be set free. You must believe this or I will not give you this weapon. Do you love him enough to end his pain, or are your professions of love only the empty words of a coward?"


	16. Ch 15: The Distance In Your Eyes

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 15: The Distance In Your Eyes**

_I remembered black skies, the lightning all around me  
I remembered each flash as time began to blur  
Like a startling sign that fate had finally found me  
And your voice was all I heard, that I get what I deserve_

- New Divide (Linkin Park)

Now, I'd like to think I'm not a coward. At least, not most of the time. But it's one thing to face down a Cyclops or the Nemean Lion or even some guy named Luke that was only maybe nice to you a couple of times before he turned tail and started working for your worst enemy. It's another thing entirely to even _think_ about what it actually means to take a sword from the god Hades and kill one of the most important people in your life with it.

The Fates must have really had it in for me, because they seriously loved forcing me to make decisions like this. But Hades had a point – it had been one thing to promise my life for Nico's. But to promise Nico's life, when all I'd ever wanted to do was show him that he _wasn't_ someone people could just use and throw away?

I couldn't do it. I _couldn't_. I didn't know what I was going to do instead, but there was just no way I could kill Nico. Not for Kronos, not for the world. It would be breaking my word to him, even if I'd never made him that promise out loud, and I just couldn't do that. I would rather rot in hell. At least while I sat for eternity and thought about how I'd damned the world, I would know that I hadn't turned on Nico to do it.

And I was about to tell Hades that, too, when something about what he'd said – something about the sword – suddenly flashed to the forefront of my mind: _The wielder of this sword can raise the dead._

And that got me to thinking. He wanted me to use the sword to kill Nico, to send his soul and Kronos' to the Underworld. And I didn't want to do that. But what if I _did_ do it – and then used the sword's power to bring Nico right back? I mean, if Hades said that Nico's powers were the only thing that made me strong enough to use this sword, then that had to mean I had some kind of control over what the sword did. And if I did, then it was a small step to get the sword to do what I wanted.

Technically, that would still be keeping my side of the bargain. Kronos would be dead. But Nico wouldn't. It was pretty much the perfect solution, which was good because there weren't any other options, not that I could see. And really, how could I turn it down, when the answer to everything was about to be handed over to me by the lord Hades himself?

And if it didn't work, well... I would think about that if it happened. But it was going to work. I had to believe _that_ just as much as Hades wanted me to believe what he was saying now. He believed Nico couldn't be saved. But I had to believe otherwise.

I swallowed, feeling like I was standing at the edge of a bottomless canyon, about to jump off. "I'd rather do anything in the world if it meant I wouldn't have to do what you're asking," I said truthfully. "You realize that, don't you?"

This time, when Hades looked at me his eyes weren't _quite_ so hard. I mean, they were still pretty hard, don't get me wrong. But some of the hatred in them had melted away. "But do you believe me when I say that you can't?"

I nodded, even though I knew I didn't. But he didn't need to know that. "I do," I lied. I held out my hand, and looked the god in his eyes. "I'll do what you ask. I'll use this sword to kill Nico – and Kronos." I paused, but he was waiting for me to go on. "I swear this on the River Styx." _And I swear,_ I added silently, _that I'll bring him back to me right after_.

The silence that hung between us was almost palpable, and ice-cold. Hades stood for a long moment, his dark eyes looking into mine like he would know if I was lying. And even though I had no intention of doing exactly what he'd asked, no part of what I'd just said was a lie. It just wasn't the whole truth, either. I tried to concentrate on that as the god studied me in some kind of silent test.

Finally, he extended his arm again and held the sword out for me to take. This time he didn't move his hand away and my fingers closed around the grip. The sword was so cold it burned the palm of my hand, like touching dry ice. And it was heavy. I had to swing my other arm up to grip the blade two-handed by the key-hilt so the point wouldn't hit the dust as Hades let go of it. After all, I didn't want to look weak – not when he was trusting me to do this. And especially not when I was going to pretty much spit in the face of what he thought couldn't be done.

As I stood holding the sword, I swore I could feel my whole arm start to grow cold, like the warmth was running out through my hand and into the sword. I gasped, and Hades' mouth quirked into something that almost resembled a wry smile. "The sword draws on the power of the person who holds it," he said, by way of explanation. "It is a weapon meant for the gods. It was never meant to touch the hand of a mortal."

I nodded, shifting the blade's weight in my grip. It was definitely bigger and heavier than Riptide. "But I'll be able to use it, right?" I looked up at Hades. "It's not gonna backfire?"

"No," he said, "it will do as I said. It will sever the souls in Nico's body from the living world and send them to me." He paused, his eyes flashing. "I cannot guarantee it won't kill you in the process."

Ah, so there was the catch. By now I couldn't say that something like that surprised me overly much. Instead I said, "You don't sound really broken up about that."

The god didn't shrug, but I got the impression that he had. "I must admit, I'm not."

"Right," I muttered, looking down at the pitch-black blade and feeling my stomach sink. I guessed nothing came without risks – that was a concept I was pretty used to, after all. Offering my life in the process wasn't really something I wanted to do, but I had to admit that it was something I hadn't thought about, either. Even if I was determined to get things to come out the way I wanted and get my happily ever after, whether the Fates wanted it that way or not.

But then I couldn't help asking, "But what about Nico?" I looked back up at Hades, feeling like maybe I shouldn't be asking this but unable to stop myself from doing it. "Part of you must want him to live."

Hades' mouth thinned into a line as he pressed his lips together. Nothing changed physically, but suddenly he somehow looked _old_. Tired. "I hold little regard for my brothers and sisters since they dismissed me to rule the realm of the dead," he said slowly. "And I have little regard for the system that's kept things that way for longer than you can imagine." He paused, pinning me with a gaze and I found I couldn't tear my eyes away. "I wanted more for my children than that, whether you choose to believe me or not."

Then Hades turned away, looking out over the dull, grassy plains of the Underworld. "When Kronos made his offer to me, I was tempted. I will not tell you otherwise. He offered me a position in which I would not be forgotten and reviled, all with the help of my son. He would make Nico more powerful than even Zeus. But as you can see," he said, turning back to me and waving his hand to the Underworld around us, "the new management is little better than the old. I am still trapped here. And Nico is trapped as well. The world above will fall deeper into chaos the longer my father reigns freely. If I must remain trapped, then I would rather it be in balance than in chaos. And I know you do not think so," he said, "but I would rather have the last of my sons dead beside me than trapped forever in a world that I see now he had no wish to create."

It was pretty much the most Hades had ever said to me. And honestly, there wasn't much I could say in reply. As I stood there and looked at him – really looked – I realized just how _lonely_ Hades was. He was the king of absolutely nothing worth having, and he knew it. Maybe that was why he'd tricked Persephone into staying with him for half the year – because even tricking someone into keeping you company was better than having no company at all.

Maybe it was why he didn't like the whole concept of me and Nico so much – maybe we just reminded him of the things he couldn't have. At least, I thought maybe that was it. And it only made me feel more strongly than ever that I couldn't turn my back on Nico now. Not when he needed me the most.

The silence had stretched on, but Hades didn't seem to want an answer out of me. He was the first to speak again. "I will send you back now," the god said, straightening to his full height. "Kronos already knows you are gone, and he knows I have done it." He looked out across the plains again, this time with something almost like concern. "I will soon have a battle of my own to fight."

"Uh. Right," I said, following his gaze. I didn't see anything, but something in my gut told me that the dead were stirring nonetheless. I didn't know if it was natural instincts or Nico's powers that told me so, but it didn't much matter at the moment. I just knew it was true. I supposed that Kronos wouldn't really let Hades get away with betraying him – after all, he wasn't the sort who kept disloyal subjects around. He simply got rid of the threat before it became a problem. It was how, I supposed, he'd been able to rise to power in only a few years.

It also meant that I wouldn't be getting any more help from Hades, but that was okay with me. I hadn't exactly been counting on it – in fact, the more freedom he gave me, the better the chances that I'd be able to bring Nico back as soon as I'd sent Kronos back to Tartarus where he belonged.

"You won't have much in the way of surprise," Hades warned, raising one hand. "I can only hope that your skills with a sword can make up for it."

I could only hope that, too. And hope that my plan would work – but in order for that to happen, I had to hope that I'd be able to follow Hades' plan first. And honestly, I didn't know for sure what would happen when I got back to Olympus and faced Kronos again. Because he was still Nico, somewhere in there, and I couldn't forget it. Would I actually be able to kill him, when I had to stare into Nico's eyes to do it?

I guessed we'd both find out the answer to that soon enough.

"I'm ready," I said, even thought I wasn't. I hefted the sword back into a ready position and looked up at the god. "Can you put me somewhere close to him, at least?" I had a pretty good idea of where he'd be, but tracking Kronos down would only make this harder to do, tiring me out and making me second-guess myself even more. It felt kind of like the decision to kill myself had, when I'd made it months ago to save Nico's life then. Once I'd decided, I'd just done it – I hadn't stopped to think about it or examine my doubts. If I had, I didn't know if I'd have gone through with it. And so I couldn't stop now, either, or the whole thing would fall apart and it really would be my fault.

Hades nodded. "I will. The rest is up to you." He locked eyes with me one more time, even as I sensed the shadows creeping up to swallow me whole. "You know what you have to do, Percy Jackson. There can be no room for doubt."

And then the darkness obscured everything from view.

--

When the shadows let me go only seconds later, I was bathed in thin gray light much the same as the light from the Underworld. I looked around and saw that I was standing in the throne room on Olympus, which still lay in ruin. Nothing had really changed since the last time I'd seen it, except for the fact that the things that had been in the shadows before weren't, anymore. Now I could see enormous black hellhounds prowling around the edges of the room, and the skeletons that had laid in piles on the floor the last time I'd seen them were now whole and standing at attention amidst the cracked and ruined thrones. The fire still burned halfheartedly in the central hearth, like it was trying to go out but couldn't find the courage to die.

As I stumbled a bit and tried to keep the sword up in front of me, one of the hellhounds started to growl. It was big – bigger than Mrs. O'Leary even, and she _had_ been the biggest hellhound I'd ever seen – and it started stalking towards me like a lion stalks its prey. I was about to take a step back when a voice boomed from the back of the throne room, "I'll take care of this myself."

The hellhound paused, its ears flicking back to lay flat against its head. Its teeth were still bared, but now it turned its beady eyes to the back of the room. My eyes darted into the shadows, where a figure began to emerge – a figure that I knew better than even my own: Nico.

_No_, I reminded myself, _Kronos_. I raised the sword in front of me, the black blade glinting in the dying firelight. I couldn't tear my eyes away as Kronos approached. He waved one hand in the general direction of the hellhounds stalking the edges of the room. "Get going," he said coldly, "and join the rest of the army in the Underworld." Around us, the hellhounds slipped back into the shadows and disappeared. Kronos stopped on the other side of the chasm that split the marble floor in two. "Hades thought he could turn around and stab me in the back, did he? Well, he'll soon find out what I do to traitors." His eyes flashed golden as he leveled his gaze at me. "As will you. I don't give second chances."

His eyes fell on the sword in my hands and his face stretched into a horribly unnatural smile that sent a shiver down my spine. No, this definitely _wasn't_ Nico, and the more he acted _wrong_, the easier it was to detach myself from what I was about to do.

Because this was it. It all came down to this: no big fight for Olympus. No epic battle, no clash between Kronos' army and the gods'. Just me and Nico and the abandoned throne room.

It wasn't how I'd pictured the "final battle" at all (and I'd tried to picture it quite a lot, especially recently). In fact, it wasn't how most of the battles I'd fought had gone, but I guessed in the end a battle was still a battle, no matter how large or small. And it was all up to me.

I could have said something witty, tried to distract him with some kind of smart remark while I prepared to strike. It was my usual more of operation, anyway; but somehow I knew that it wouldn't work here. Hades had been right – I didn't have the element of surprise. But that didn't mean I was defenseless. I still had the element of unpredictability.

And so without a word I charged him, getting a running start a good few steps away from the chasm so I could cross it in one jump and swing the sword of Hades down in an arc as I reached the other side, aiming the blow right between Kronos' neck and his shoulderblade. I tried not to look at his face – I tried to look instead at the black t-shirt Nico had been wearing, or the silver belt buckle, or anything other than the eyes that I knew would make me pull back at the last second. I couldn't afford to lose this one. _For Nico_.

But the hit never landed. In fact, neither did I – I seemed to hit some kind of invisible barrier in mid-jump, freezing me over the chasm with the blade already on its downward swing. When I blinked – excruciatingly slowly – I saw that Kronos was now holding his scythe. It looked wrong in Nico's hands.

Even unpredictability hadn't been enough. Kronos had slowed time, rendering me totally powerless and completely vulnerable. The feeling of sick fear that shot through my stomach would have made me retch, if I hadn't been unable to move at all. I watched he stepped smoothly to the side, moving totally clear of my incoming blow even as I hung, suspended in time above the floor.

He smiled a smile that made me sick to my stomach as he looked up at me, one pale hand holding the polished handle of the scythe almost carelessly. "Hades should have chosen someone else as his instrument of betrayal," Kronos said, his voice grating over my ears and every word stinging like a physical blow. "And you should have thought more carefully about which side you were going to join."

I wanted to shout back at him, to tell him that I would never join him, not willingly while he held Nico prisoner. But I couldn't – I couldn't draw breath more than a sliver of air at a time, and even though my mind was racing my body was still all but frozen in time and space. I didn't know what Kronos was going to do to me, but whatever it was, it was almost worse to know that when he defeated me _he_ would possess the key set in the hilt of the sword. It would give him the ultimate power over life and death, more than he could ever hope to have through Nico alone. And that was worse than giving up my life for something I believed in – that was handing over one of the most powerful weapons I had ever known right into the hands of the worst person who could possibly possess it. With it, he could raise any of his allies that the gods had ever defeated.

"Now," he said slowly, looking at me as though thinking quite hard, "what should I do with you?"

I needed to come up with a plan, but it was kind of impossible while hanging suspended in the middle of the throne room. After all, I still couldn't move. The only thing I could do was _think_ and, let's face it, that's never exactly been one of my strong suits. I wished Annabeth were there – or anyone, really. But I was on my own and there was no way to call for help –

Wait. There was no way to call a _person_ for help, no. But what about something else? I knew there were aqueducts running throughout Olympus – I'd seen them throughout the city before, when I'd walked from the elevator entrance to the throne room. And at least some of those aqueducts still had to have water, even if they were as broken as the throne room. They were still fed from a source somewhere. Maybe I could reach that source in real time, even if my body was caught in this slow-time bubble. I had no idea if it would work, but at this point anything was worth a try. Anything was worth not letting this weapon fall into Kronos' hands – and what was more, anything was worth trying to get Nico back.

I tried to turn my mind completely to the task at hand. My eyesight blurred as I concentrated on the throne room and tried to call any water I could reach to come help me. _Here! Come here!_ I willed as hard as I could, praying silently to my father and Nico's (whether they could help me or not) that I still had the power to distract the Titan into letting me go long enough to kill him.

There was a pulling sensation in my gut and a rushing in my ears. My eyes tracked impossibly slowly to the front of the room where the broken doors stood open, guarded by a pair of empty-eyed skeletons. Even though the seconds weren't exactly ticking by for me, I could feel the pulling just behind my belly button getting stronger. There was a wave building, rushing towards the throne room. There was no way to tell how much time was passing, but it couldn't be much.

The feeling grew and grew, and I began to think that maybe I could win this after all, until outside the bubble Kronos had created around me I saw a twelve-foot wave of water come pouring in through the open doorway. It totally obliterated the skeleton guards as it roared over the threshold, smashing into the rubble and carrying it along for the ride. The wave came roaring towards Kronos, who turned his head to look at it and made a motion with one hand –

And the water slowed, diminishing at once to a stream that simply fed into the chasm below, trickling away, completely harmless.

Then his gaze snapped back up to me and made a squeezing motion with one hand, and time seemed to speed up in an instant so that I came crashing down on the other side of the marble floor, totally out of control as my body finished moving like I'd originally planned but there was no longer anything for me to land a blow on. The blade clanged off the floor, sending a tremor back up through my arms that turned my fingers numb and I think it was nothing more than sheer willpower that kept me from dropping Hades' sword. I scrambled to my feet, trying to get my arms to respond to my brain and bring the sword up in a blocking position just as the blade of the scythe whistled down towards me, impossibly sharp and bright. I might have a blade that could separate a soul from its body, but so did Kronos. I knew about his scythe, and I knew that it was just as dangerous as the sword in my hands if it touched me.

There was the too-loud sound of unearthly metals meeting, and sparks flew from the place where the two blades touched. Kronos looked down at me with a cruel smile and said, "Had you forgotten, little demigod, that you gave Nico power over water as well?"

I could feel my heart sink even as I tried to concentrate on keeping the Titan from overpowering me as he put more weight on his blade. I managed to slide my sword away from the scythe and duck underneath the blade as it swung downward, bringing Hades' sword around in an upward swing only to have it blocked again by Kronos' scythe at the last second. Worst of all, he twisted his blade until I was looking up at him again, forced to stare into Nico's face just on the other side of our struggling weapons.

I kept moving, twisting around in an attempt to land a blow, but he parried my every move. Kronos chose his vessels wisely, I had to give him that. Luke had been an expert swordsman, and even with Kronos in the driver's seat the muscle memory had still been there. Nico might not have had time to get as good as Luke, but hadn't been a slacker, either. Growing up in the blink of an eye had made him stronger than even me, and the Titan's senses were more acute than a human's could ever hope to be.

About twenty seconds into the fight, I knew I was going to lose. Don't ask how, but it's just something you learn when you learn swordfighting like I have. It's not like it is in the movies at all – you only have to trade a few blows at most before you _know_ whether you're going to come out on top or not.

And I knew that this time I wasn't. I was fighting with an unfamiliar weapon, bigger and much heavier than the one I was used to. I could feel the key almost humming in my hands, still burning coldly through the skin of my palms and sucking more heat from my body with every passing second. I was beginning to really believe what Hades had said about this sword killing me. It was like I could _feel_ it draining my life away, and it wasn't even going to do any good in the end.

But that wasn't good enough for me, and it wasn't good enough for Nico. I was running out of ideas, and it was clear that my swordsmanship was not going to be enough on its own. In a last-ditch effort to gain the upper hand, I reached back mentally towards the crevice where Kronos had drained the water from my earlier attempt to distract him. I could still feel it, pooling far below us. I called upon it again, flinging it upward and over me in an arc that crashed down onto the figure in front of me.

This time it worked – the wave of water hit Kronos square in the chest just as he went for a downward swing with his scythe, and he went skidding backwards a few feet before he flung out an arm to divert the flow of water. But his scythe was now in the wrong position to block as I closed the distance between us and brought the black sword up above my head to land the killing blow –

As I moved to strike I looked down and I saw his face. And for a second, in the shadow of the water as it crashed around us, I couldn't tell if his eyes were gold or brown.

I only lost my resolve for a fraction of an instant, maybe less. But it was enough. My arms buckled in mid-swing, and the sword faltered in my hands. When Kronos brought his scythe up this time to block the blow, the force of the impact sent Hades' sword flying out of my hands. It skidded across the marble floor and into the shadows behind what looked like the remains of a giant deep-sea fisherman's chair.

I was thrown off balance, the world tipping crazily until I was lying stunned on the ground, the breath knocked out of me. I felt one steel-toed boot plant itself in the middle of my chest, and when I looked up Nico was looking down at me.

But it wasn't Nico. It was Kronos. His eyes were gold, and his mouth was stretched into a satisfied grin as he leaned down, putting more weight on my chest until I thought he was going to break my ribs. He peered into my face, bringing his scythe around so that the flat of the blade just touched the skin of my neck.

I'd failed. All I could think, looking up at his face, was that maybe I never could have done it in the first place. Maybe killing Kronos while there was still some sliver of Nico left inside of him was a line I just couldn't cross. I'd failed Hades, and I'd failed Nico too, but a tiny part of me thought that even if he was trapped forever, at least now Nico would still be _alive_.

Except so was I. And that was a little confusing. Sure, he was gloating, but Kronos wasn't stupid. And he'd told me himself that he didn't give second chances. So why hadn't he killed me yet?

"What are you waiting for?" I asked, still trying to catch my breath even though I knew it didn't really matter. I probably shouldn't have tried to provoke him. But waiting to die was far worse than actually dying, and I actually had the experience to compare it with. Right now, staring up into Nico's face with someone other than Nico looking out at me from behind it, I was starting to _want_ to die. I'd failed Nico so completely that there was no way I could have lived with myself knowing I'd lost the chance to get him back. I thought back to all those times when I'd been so sick and tired of fighting that I'd just wanted to lie down and sleep forever. Maybe now I would get my wish. Hades certainly wouldn't make an exception for me a second time. "Do it."

But "Oh, no," Kronos said, and he leaned down closer until our noses were almost touching. "Death would be such an easy way out. Believe me," he said, smiling a smile that was really more of a leer, "I know. Do you think I couldn't hear Luke screaming for an end to it all? Do you think I can't hear Nico screaming, now?" He shook his head, bearing down on me and the scythe slid against my neck but never broke the skin. "Oh, no. You will not get death, little would-be hero. Instead, I will take it from you. And you will see what hell is really like."


	17. Ch 16: Waiting For The World To Fall

**[A/N]:** Guys, I am so sorry for taking so incredibly long with this chapter. Things have been insanely busy for me, and I lost my momentum for a little while, which didn't help. BUT I am back on track and while I admit the story probably won't be updated quite as frequently as it was last year, I am still writing and I will definitely finish it! Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me so far - you guys are the reason I'm still writing it!

--

**The Ties That Bind**

**Chapter 16: Waiting For The World To Fall**

_I'm waiting for the world to fall_  
_I'm waiting for the scene to change _  
_I'm waiting when the colors come_  
_I'm waiting to let my world come undone_

- Waiting For The World To Fall (Jars of Clay)

Okay, for the record? Being chained to the top of the Empire State Building and getting your insides pecked out by an enormous eagle the size of a Volkswagon _hurts like fucking hell_.

Oh, and the worst part? If you're immortal, everything puts itself back together again (that part hurts like hell too, by the way) and that means the eagle can show up the next morning and start pecking all over again. And if you thought the first time was bad? Just wait. The second time is worse.

So you can imagine what it feels like when you start getting into double digits.

But who's counting, anyway? I was – because counting was about the only thing I could do. I could count, and I could think – but only sometimes, during the quiet hours of the morning between when my body put itself back together again and when the sun rose and the eagle appeared to have its breakfast of Percy's Liver, Extra Fresh.

I guess I should backtrack a bit, but there's not really much to tell. I mean, I lost to Kronos. I lost it all – Nico, the war, everything. New York was still standing, sure, but there had been thick, soupy clouds swirling over the city for weeks now. I was chained to the plain old top of the Empire State Building – the broadcast tower on top of the mortal part of the skyscraper, 1454 feet straight up. I could make out the Upper Bay, and Governers and Ellis Island in between breaks in the clouds, and see the Holland and Brooklyn Battery Tunnels snaking across the water into Brooklyn. I guess you could say it was a pretty amazing view even with the clouds, but I can't say I was really in the right mindset to enjoy it.

It's not that I hate heights. In fact, I love flying with Blackjack. But waking up and seeing all of the Lower East Side spread out below your feet is pretty terrifying. And realizing five seconds later that the chains on your wrists and ankles are all that's keeping you from plummeting to a bloody death really doesn't make things a whole lot better. And even when I'd realized that I couldn't die even if I _did_ plummet to the ground… well, honestly, that didn't make me feel any better.

I could see pretty clearly down to the observation deck on the 86th floor, but there must have been some kind of Mist shrouding my position because no one ever seemed to notice me or the giant eagle snacking on my insides. Or, at least, I was pretty sure no one noticed – honestly, most of my days were spent in what you might call _agonizing pain_, except that I don't think that even begins to describe it properly. Basically, take the worst kind of pain you can imagine. Then multiply it by about a million. Then square it. After that my math skills get kind of fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure that even then you aren't even getting close to what I felt.

I guess you might wonder how I became immortal – funny story, actually. I don't really know. I don't know if it was a magic spell or if Kronos just tapped me on the forehead or what. After I'd lost to him – lost everything, along with Hades' sword from my hands – Kronos had smacked me in the head with the staff end of his scythe. Sad to say, that was all it had taken to knock me out. And when I woke up, I was chained up here and confused as to why I wasn't in the Underworld instead.

So you can imagine what it felt like (okay, well, you can't, but just go with me here) when a giant eagle showed up and started ripping my stomach open looking for lunch. It's one thing to know you're going to lose a sword fight, to look up and see the blade coming at you and know that you at least had a hand in trying not to die. It's another thing entirely to be bound hand and foot to the top of a tower a thousand feet above New York City and watch helplessly as a mythological creature tears you open while you scream and howl and wish you could black out or die or _anything_, really, to make the nightmare be over and done.

And I thought it would be over, after that. I mean, no one _expects_ to wake up after they've had their liver torn out and realize they're still breathing. But that's exactly what I did that first night – I woke up and realized that I still wasn't in the Underworld. I was still on top of the Empire State Building, and I was still alive. I can't say I wasn't relieved – at first. Sure, waking up alive after you thought you were a goner is always a relief. But that only lasts so long, when every time I thought it would be the last, it wasn't. And seeing that eagle come at me every day with no end in sight really opened my eyes to what I hadn't realized before.

Sometimes waking up after you thought you were a goner _wasn't_ a relief. Sometimes it was the worst punishment in the world, when you just kept waking up and things were exactly the same – bad, really bad – and the terrible monster that had tried to kill you only hours before was sure to be back when the sun rose again.

I wanted to die. I mean, I might have felt like I wanted to die before in my life, when I was tired of fighting or even that day not so long ago when I'd known that I had lost everything to Kronos and he had me on the floor, helpless. But that had been different. I knew now that all of those times, I'd really just wanted things to stop being bad so they could get better again. Now I knew that wasn't the same. Now I knew what it was like when things really _wouldn't_ get better, not ever again.

And now I could see that I really had let Nico down in the worst way possible – not because I hadn't been able to save him, but because I hadn't been able to kill him. Now I knew what it was like to be trapped, helpless while you own body betrayed you, while it refused to fucking die every time it should have given out. Now I truly knew what it was like to want to die. And I knew that Nico must feel this way, too, trapped inside his own body while Kronos had destroyed the gods with Nico's hands. And I couldn't help but realize that I had been too much of a coward to see that sometimes the only thing left you could do to prove your love for someone was to truly let them go.

Now I understood what Hades had meant, when he'd asked if I really loved Nico. And now I knew that I had been wrong from the start. Not that I hadn't loved Nico – because I did, and I still did, so much that it _hurt_ even when I thought I couldn't feel any more pain. I just hadn't known what loving him had really meant until I'd been denied the one thing that I'd always taken for granted. I might have been running from it ever since I'd won Nico back from the hands of his father months ago, but I'd known it was going to happen. I have to say, I'd always taken my death for granted.

But now I didn't even have that. Now I couldn't do anything to stop Kronos from using Nico to kill my friends, or my mom, or everyone else on the planet. And I couldn't even _die_ so that I could stop feeling guilty about it every second of every day.

When I slept I dreamed about Camp Half-Blood, but even my dreams weren't comforting. They were dreams of the camp in flames, overrun by Kronos' forces, the campers killed or scattered. In my dreams I saw flames licking out of the windows of the big house, and the walls of my cabin – of all the cabins – had been tumbled to the ground. I dreamed about Kronos' army, cyclopes and _empousai_ and _dracaenae_ and even the minotaur, monsters and half-bloods who'd sworn loyalty to the Titan marching across New York and leaving destruction in their wake. Sometimes I saw the windows of my mom's apartment, shattered and broken, but I could never see inside to see if she was okay.

What's more, not all of my dreams happened while I was asleep. Sometimes I had dreams while I was awake, while the eagle ate out my liver. I would see or hear things that couldn't be there, and I would black out and wake up over and over again and never be sure if it was still the same day or if the eagle was simply back again, 24 hours later.

_Percy_

I jerked, groaning as I lifted my head from where it had fallen, my chin on my chest as my body slowly – and very painfully – knit itself back together after providing another afternoon meal for the eagle. It had left for the day, flying away until it disappeared into the clouds. But it would be back tomorrow, I knew.

I squinted into the sunset, trying to clear the spots from my vision. The setting sun was still bright even through the clouds, reflecting off a hundred different buildings and right into my eyes. It felt like someone was trying to drive a hot needle right into my brain.

Still, I could have sworn I'd heard something. But of course there was nothing – no one – there. I felt my chin hit my chest again, closing my eyes against the sun.

_Percy_

It was like when you're just about to fall asleep, half-dreaming and someone says something in your dream and you jerk awake because you're not sure if you really heard a voice or not. I opened my eyes again. The sky looked like it was on fire, orange and red reflecting off the clouds around me. There were still spots in my eyes, no matter how many times I tried to blink them away. But there was still no one there – there couldn't be, not up here. Not talking to me.

Not long after I fell asleep for good, drowning in dreams of camp or the streets of New York burning and ruined and it was all my fault and I knew it. And then the real nightmare started up again the next morning, and it went on and on and on like that for weeks. Sometimes I'd hear voices just as I was falling asleep, sometimes I'd think I saw something in the flash of the sunlight off the buildings. I was really starting to think that being immortal didn't mean you couldn't go absolutely batshit crazy, but getting my liver eaten out daily might have had something do with that, too.

So you can understand how I thought I was dreaming on that day when the eagle, having just finished its lunch and perched on the antenna over my head cleaning the blood off its feathers, suddenly jerked and screamed. It was a horrible sound, like nails against a chalkboard, and I guess that must've been what got my attention because I was still lightheaded and in a whole lot of pain.

By the time I managed to turn my head toward the sound, it was just in time to see the eagle jerk again, and again, and then I heard something else – something familiar.

_Boss!_ Blackjack said inside my head, just as wingbeats became audible above the rushing in my ears. _Boss, hang on! We're coming!_

I'd never heard Blackjack's voice in any of my dreams, but that didn't mean I was convinced I wasn't dreaming. I'd thought I'd heard things before, and they'd ended up being nothing. But the whispers in the back of my head were always almost voiceless – I couldn't tell you anything about them – if they were male or female, or what they had really sounded like at all. But this voice – I'd heard it before. And I knew who it was.

While I tried to figure out whether I was hearing things or not, the eagle spread its wings and leaped off the spire. As it passed over me, I could see that there were arrows – three of them – sticking out from between the feathers of its chest. Their silver fletching flashed in the dull sunlight that broke occasionally through the clouds.

It opened its huge beak and screamed again, that horrible otherworldly sound that I honestly never want to hear again. But just as the sound cut off I heard a voice – a human voice – say "Now! Straight ahead!" and an instant later a fourth arrow flashed through the air and lodged itself in the eagle's open beak, piercing the roof of its mouth.

A second later, the eagle exploded into dust, blowing away on the wind.

"Okay, are we done now? I'd really like to get off this thing. I don't like riding horses when they're on the _ground_."

I knew that voice. It was Rachel. Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I'd never dreamed Rachel's voice before, either – or anything happening to the eagle. Maybe I really was going crazy. But as the dust from the eagle cleared and I could make out two large, dark shapes – pegasi – one carrying two riders and the other carrying one – I realized that out of all the things I'd dreamed, I'd never dreamed a rescue before.

"Percy!" Another voice cried – Annabeth. "Oh gods – we need to get him down, now!"

The two pegasi neared me, and I could see now that one of the riders was actually Rachel, her face pale and her red hair whipping in the wind, half of it having come loose from her ponytail. Sitting behind her was Thalia, who was slinging her bow across her back one-handed, the other hand fisted in the pegasus' mane so she wouldn't fall off. The second pegasus – Blackjack – was carrying Annabeth, her long blonde hair messily pulled up into a bun with what looked like one of those cheap wooden chopsticks you got from Chinese take-out places stuck through it. Both Annabeth and Thalia's clothes were streaked with dirt and what could have been blood. It was hard to tell.

The two flying horses got as close to the antenna as they dared and, as I watched (honestly still trying to figure out if I was actually seeing this or not), Annabeth and then Thalia bravely leaped off their mounts to grab the antenna as Rachel clung to the mane of her pegasus. Both horses circled around to land on the circular service platform at the bottom of the antenna as Annabeth and Thalia began working their way over to me, their faces grim. I don't know how they did it, but together they loosened the chains at my ankles and wrists, slowly climbing down with me slung between them until they finally lowered me to my back on the platform where the pegasi were waiting with Rachel. There was barely enough room for the two pegasi and the four of us. Rachel had slid off her mount and was standing there, watching with one hand buried in its mane. She looked horrified.

"Oh my _god_, Percy – " Rachel just stared at me for a second, her face going pale as ghost, before she turned and disappeared from my field of view.

Honestly, I could barely stay conscious. My stomach was open and raw and bleeding and I realized that I must look absolutely horrifying, even though I really couldn't bring myself to care. I heard retching, and turned my head to realize that Rachel was at the edge of the platform, leaning over it and losing her lunch over the edge. For a second I wondered if any of it would make it down to the 86th floor observation deck, and I couldn't help the deranged giggle that bubbled past my lips.

"Percy!" I heard Annabeth's voice, which got my attention as my head swiveled up again to see her leaning over me. "Percy, can you hear me?" She was wiping bloody hands on her jeans – my blood, I realized – before she dug a plastic baggie out of her pocket. "You need to eat this," she said, pulling out a square of ambrosia and trying to push it into my mouth.

But I turned my head away, nauseous and every nerve screaming with pain and not really wanting to feel better. I felt like I deserved to die – and that it wouldn't even happen, no matter whether I got help or not. "Don't – need it," I croaked, my voice raw and dry from screaming for days and days.

"Yes you do," she said desperately, pushing it against my lips again. Her voice was high-pitched and tight, and when I blinked up at her I could see that her eyes were bright. She was blinking rapidly like she was trying not to cry. "You're going to die otherwise, Percy, and we need – "

"No," I insisted, shaking my head as best I could while it felt like I was spinning in circles like a top. "Can't die," I told her.

"Can't… What?" Annabeth began, before she suddenly dropped the square of ambrosia and put her hand to her mouth. She didn't make a sound, just stared at me for a minute until she took her hand away. When she spoke, her voice was barely loud enough for me to make out. "Percy, you mean – how many times has this happened?"

"Thirty-three," I croaked. "I think." I'd been trying to keep count – it had been pretty much the only thing keeping me sane. Normally I might follow that up with a _"What took you so long?"_ and a grin, but not anymore. Nothing was funny anymore. Nothing would ever be funny again.

"Why is he still bleeding?" I suddenly heard Thalia's voice, her tone commanding but tight. "We can't stay here and – what's wrong with his blood?"

A shadow fell over my face and Annabeth turned to look as Thalia stepped into my line of sight. Her bow was drawn and a silver-fletched arrow still nocked. She looked alert, like she was on patrol and keeping an eye out for any other monsters that might appear. I supposed she wanted to make sure that there were no other monsters guarding me, but it also occurred to me that maybe Kronos had thought that there wouldn't be anyone crazy enough – or anyone _left_ – to rescue me. I certainly hadn't been about to escape on my own. And he'd known it.

Thalia crouched down beside me. The front of her silver hoodie was smeared with my blood, but there was more of it – lots more of it, and fresh – all over me and the metal grating we were on. She peered at it, then looked down at her own hands, rust-colored with more of it.

I couldn't help but wonder what she was talking about. I squinted at the splotch on the front of her hoodie. My vision was still swimming a bit, but once I managed to focus I realized why she was confused. The blood on the front of her hoodie was mostly dark red like you'd expect, but it was also… shimmery, almost, laced through with gold – like someone had taken gold paint and squeezed it into a larger vat of red and then stirred, liberally.

"It's true," Annabeth whispered, and I saw Thalia look at her before my own eyes tracked to Annabeth's face. "That explains it," she went on, but she didn't sound proud to have figured something out, like she usually did. "Percy's – he said he couldn't die. He's immortal, and this is the proof."

"Immortal?" Thalia hissed, like she was almost afraid to say it any louder. Her eyes fixed on my face, like she was expecting me to look different, somehow.

"His blood is turning to gold ichor – like the blood of the gods. Kronos must have done this. Percy said he's been up here for over a month. He's been going through this _every single day_, just like Prometheus."

Thalia swallowed thickly. Her bright blue eyes kept searching my face, but I don't know what she was looking for. There was a long moment of silence and then she got to her feet and said, "I don't care. Eat the ambrosia, Percy. We have to get out of here _now_."

She wasn't giving me an option. It was an order. And maybe there was no way she could make me follow it but somehow, even though I still wanted to die and if I couldn't do that then suffering through the pain I was feeling right now was the next best thing, when Annabeth pressed the ambrosia to my lips this time I opened them and let it melt on my tongue.

She pressed nine more squares into my mouth – everything she had in the baggie, enough to kill a mortal. The smooth, golden fire spread throughout my body, feeling warm at first and then burning like hot oil all over my skin, like I was filling up with a fire that just kept growing hotter and hotter. It was agonizing, like burning up from the inside out, and knew that if I was mortal I would have been dead. But now it just hurt like hell. Annabeth had to hold down my arms as I started writhing on the deck, and as she leaned over me I could feel warm tears falling onto my cheeks. I started to feel really awful, about then – that she was crying over _me_, over someone who was so worthless that he'd let Kronos slip right through his fingers. I'd had the chance to end it all, and I had failed. I didn't think I was someone worth crying over, not after that.

When I finally collapsed against the deck, gasping for air, I looked down and saw that the torn skin of my stomach had healed completely, though I still felt weak and tired. Annabeth called Thalia over again, and while Blackjack knelt carefully on the metal plating of the platform, together the two of them managed to hoist me onto his back. Annabeth climbed up behind me, sliding her arms under mine and to grasp Blackjacke's mane, careful to avoid the newly-closed wound across my stomach. The warmth of her body against my back felt strange and foreign, like I'd forgotten what it was like to be this close to another human being in just thirty-three days.

Thalia climbed onto the second pegasus, reaching down and giving Rachel a hand up. She was still pale, her freckles standing out in stark contrast with her skin, as she looped her arms around Thalia's waist and their mount leapt into the sky. Then Blackjack tensed beneath us, and seconds later he launched himself up after them, his strong wings beating the air as we gained height and distance away from the Empire State Building and the broadcast antenna where I'd spent the last month of my life – the first month of the rest of eternity.

Normally I like flying, but right then looking anywhere except the back of Blackjack's neck made me want to lose the nonexistent contents of my stomach, so I kept my eyes straight ahead the whole time. Even so, I realized that the streets and buildings were starting to look familiar, even from the air.

We were heading to my mom's apartment. Suddenly all of my nightmares popped up vividly in the front of my mind and my newly-healed stomach churned unhappily. "Mom – ?" I couldn't help but ask, turning to try and face Annabeth – which turned out to be a bad idea. I had to turn my head back to the front as I started feeling nauseous.

"She's not there," Annabeth said, her voice right in my ear. "Don't worry – she's safe, Percy. I saw her last week. We told her and Paul to get out of here – to go out to the country for a while, or anywhere, really. She didn't want to leave, not with you gone, but… we promised her we'd rescue you."

I tried to imagine a showdown between Annabeth and my mom – I'd never been sure who would win, but now I guessed I had my answer.

We landed on the street right outside the building – there was no one around, but even if there had been, they wouldn't have noticed. "There's perks to being good with the Mist," Thalia said tightly, as she and Rachel slipped from their mount. As soon as Annabeth had helped me off Blackjack, the two pegasi launched themselves from the street and circled in the air once before coming back down on the roof of the building. I wondered what the tenants of the top floor would think, before I decided I didn't really care.

_We'll be here when you need us, Boss,_ Blackjack said. I could hear the tension in his voice, even hearing it just inside my head.

I was feeling a little stronger, but Annabeth still stayed close by my side as we climbed the stairs and I leaned on the railing like it was a lifeline. She pulled my mom's spare key out of her pocket and unlocked the door, leading me straight into the living room so I could sit on the couch. Everything looked just like normal – in fact, it seemed wrong to be sitting in my mom's nice normal, clean apartment like it was a regular day after I'd just spent a month chained to the top of the Empire State Building. I wondered for a second how mad Mom would be if we got blood on the couch, but my legs were tired just from climbing the stairs and I couldn't help but collapse onto it a minute later without really caring.

Annabeth sat beside me, close but not touching. Rachel disappeared into the kitchen as Thalia gave the entire apartment a once-over, knife in hand, before she came back into the living room. Rachel appeared a minute later with an armful of sodas, passing them around. I opened mine with still slightly-shaking hands. The taste was almost foreign, like I'd forgotten what Coke tasted like in only a month. I let the bubbles dissolve on my tongue, swallowing thickly as Rachel sat down in one of the armchairs.

"Okay," Thalia said, taking charge of the conversation as she put away her knife and stripped out of her blood-spattered hoodie before settling into the other chair. "Percy, you need to tell us what happened up there. I mean, the part about how you… ended up like that."

I could feel my face fall as I slumped a bit – I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't know what they would think of me once they found out I had let all of this happen. I felt like the world's biggest loser – because I _was_, of course; but worst of all, it affected not just me, but everyone I cared about. I had let everyone down.

But just like before, Thalia wasn't giving me an option. Her bright blue eyes were staring me down like she was daring me to keep my mouth shut, and even though I couldn't think of much good that would come from me explaining what had happened, I thought that at least I could clear Nico's name. They should know the truth about that – I owed him at least that much. And a whole lot more.

"It was Kronos all along," I started. "He was controlling Nico. When he tried to let Luke's soul go, back in Boston – Kronos has been in him ever since. None of this was Nico's fault. Kronos used him to kill Luke, so he could put all of his soul in one body – Nico's."

I watched both Annabeth and Thalia's faces go pale at that – of course, I thought, looking between the two of them. They both cared a lot about Luke, and I realized that no matter how bad things had gotten they had still believed there was a way to save him. And now I had to be the one to tell them there wasn't – not anymore.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, looking down at my soda for a long minute. "I saw his body myself. He's dead."

Silence fell, filling up the room like a thick, cold fog. I shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Rachel bit her lip, looking like she wanted to leave but like she didn't dare get up. I couldn't blame her. Even I felt like I was intruding on something that I shouldn't be present for.

"But it also means he's free," I finally went on, looking back up at them, still feeling uncomfortable at the raw feelings on both their faces but forcing myself to look first in Thalia's eyes, then Annabeth's. "Kronos can't hurt him anymore." And I knew, personally, how much of a relief that would be.

Thalia just stared straight ahead; Annabeth swallowed thickly, biting her lip like she was going to cry again but didn't want to, anymore. In the other armchair, Rachel still looked uncomfortable, fiddling with the soda can between her hands.

The only thing I could do was keep taking – I didn't really want to, but it was better than more of that strange, awkward silence. Feeling like I was on autopilot, I explained the rest of it. I told them everything that had happened after Nico had shadow traveled me out of the hotel room that day and showed me Luke's body on Mount Tam. I told them how Nico had taken me to Olympus, how he'd somehow defeated the gods and I had been powerless to stop him. I told them how Hades had given me the sword, how I'd thought I knew what I needed to do and how I had been wrong. I told them how I'd failed, looking at the wall across the room while I talked so that I wouldn't have to look at any of their faces.

"Percy…" Annabeth said quietly when I was done, reaching over to take my hand. I glanced at her, wondering how she could even want to comfort me, but her grey eyes didn't waver as she said, "You did what you thought was right. It's not your fault – it's _not_. I don't – I don't know that I would have done any differently."

"Thanks, Annabeth," I said, but the words felt hollow. All the same, she just kept looking at me, her grey eyes trained on mine. Her face still clearly showed her pain – but it also held something else: sincerity. She honestly believed what she was saying. She honestly believed that it wasn't my fault.

I still wasn't sure about that, though. But somehow, despite everything, I felt just a little better. Better enough to ask – and actually care about the answer – "What happened while I was – I mean, why didn't you take me back to Camp?" It wasn't much farther by Pegasus, and I knew I could've made the trip. There had to be a reason they'd brought me here, instead.

"Kronos' army overran Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth explained, her voice quiet but steady. "We don't know how they got in – it must have been the half-bloods who joined Kronos, they must have snuck in and found a way to disable our defenses, to let the monsters in. We fought as best we could, but…"

I realized my dreams had been true – that somehow I'd been seeing exactly what happened. Camp Half-Blood really had been overrun and left in ruins. "We knew a losing battle when we saw one," Annabeth went on, clasping her hands together on her knees. "So we scattered into as many groups as we could. We use the internet and phones to keep in touch when we can – Iris messages don't work anymore – and we've been fighting back as best we can. Guerilla warfare. But we knew we had to find you." She swallowed. "We couldn't believe that you were dead. Grover said he'd know if you were."

I started at the mention of Grover's name. I hadn't seen him since he'd left to round up any half-bloods before Luke – Kronos – could get to them. "He's okay?" I asked, suddenly feeling horrible for not worrying about him until now.

Annabeth nodded. "He made it back to camp just before we were overrun. He even brought a few reinforcements, but they didn't do much good in the end. One of the half-bloods he'd found knew aikido, but the other three were just regular kids, no training. He took them and a couple of the nymphs – and Juniper – and fled, too. But he told us you weren't dead. And that was all we needed to know."

"The Hunters have been scouting the city, taking out small groups of monsters where they can, but there are more of them every day," Thalia took over, her voice still tight. "Kronos is planning something, and soon."

Annabeth continued where Thalia left off. "We think he's going to take the city – to fortify the area around Olympus. From there he can… well, we don't know exactly what he wants, but once he's got his full army amassed, he can hunt down the campers and then there won't be anyone left to stand in his way."

I swallowed – she was right. Kronos hadn't told me much of what he was planning, but I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't settle just for watching the world from Olympus. He'd wanted revenge on the gods and he'd gotten it, sure. But I knew he wouldn't just stop with that. He wasn't that sort of guy.

"And Rachel?" I asked, wanting to know how she had gotten mixed up in all of this.

She'd been silent so far; now she shrugged, looking more uncomfortable than I'd ever seen her before. Normally she was confident, sure of herself even when there were things that would scare a normal mortal going on. But Rachel could see through the Mist – like my mom, she knew what was really going on. And nothing much surprised her. But she sure didn't look like that now.

"I started seeing the monsters," she said quietly. "When Kronos – when he defeated the gods, he started bringing his army into New York, a little bit at a time. I saw the monsters creeping around in the shadows. And then…" She paused, swallowing. "Then I started having these… I don't know, you could call them visions, I guess. Like dreams, but when I was awake. Of – of you, up there. I had a bad feeling about the whole thing, so I tried calling Annabeth. Her cell was almost never on – "

"But the one time it was, she got through," Annabeth continued. "When she told me she knew where you were, we decided to rescue you."

"That was the second try, actually," Thalia put in wryly. "The first time it was just the two of us – and we couldn't see a thing out of the ordinary. I've never had a problem seeing through the Mist before, but… whatever was hiding you up there, it was _strong_. So the second time we brought her with, and… well, you know the rest."

Now I understood – why Rachel had been along, why she'd been telling Thalia where to shoot. "Thanks," I said, finally – to Rachel, but then I turned to Thalia, then Annabeth. "All of you – thanks." I knew that a part of me hadn't wanted to be rescued, really, but I also knew that I didn't have a choice. I could have stayed up there forever – and I would have – and let my guilt eat me alive until there was nothing left, or I could use this second chance to do something about my mistake. One of those paths was a lot harder than the other, but being a half-blood teaches you that the easy way is usually not the right one. Nothing matters unless you've fought for it, no matter how much you want to just lie down and give up.

Nico hadn't given up. He'd fought until the very end. And so I couldn't give up on him now – even if the only thing I could do was end it all before he had to watch the end of the world go down at his own hands.

"So what we need to do now," Thalia said after a minute, taking a deep breath as she looked at all of us, "is figure out what to do. We need some kind of plan, and we need it soon."

But she was wrong about that – we didn't need to think up a plan. I already had one. I'd had an entire month to think about what I would do if I ever got free. I didn't need any more time. "I know what to do," I said, as all eyes turned to me. "I have to go back. I have get Hades' sword back and end this, once and for all."


End file.
